page_title: Ciel Bergman
section_title: Work
hierarchical_section_title: Ciel Bergman / Work
caption_attribution_description: English: Ciel Bergman, Her compassion, 2004 o/c 60x84” private collection Photographer: James Hart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Ciel_Bergman
context_page_description: Cheryl Marie Bowers, known as Ciel Bergman, was an American painter of Swedish origin. Her work, considered post-modern, has a focus on the environment as well as feminine consciousness.
context_section_description: Bergman's work consists primarily of paintings, drawings, prints, photography, constructions and prose using the metaphors of the water, the rose and rose petals. Her paintings in the mid-1980s depicted aspects of goddess using symbols from the collective unconscious.
  In 1987, Bergman addressed the growing urgency of plastic recycling in the Sea of Clouds What Can I Do, presented at Santa Barbara Contemporary Art Forum. An immersive installation filled the entire gallery space with seven dumpsters full of non-biodegradable waste plastic garbage gathered from four miles of Santa Barbara's Pacific Ocean coastline over the course of three or four months. The installation included painted wall murals, sound, a video written and shot by the artist, photography, a meditation circle, writing, and a prayer sticks altar with interactive participation of visitors to the exhibition. The installation resembled a post-nuclear ash site: floors were littered with sprawling piles of plastic which hung from the ceiling, sprinkled with flour. After the exhibition closed, six dumpsters were needed to haul away the refuse.
caption: Ciel Bergman, Her compassion
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