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Floyd artist Janiece Bergland inducted to Fine Arts Hall of Fame

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Fine Arts Hall of Fame inductee Janiece Bergland. Contributed photo
Fine Arts Hall of Fame inductee Janiece Bergland. Contributed photo

This year’s inductee to the Charles City Fine Arts Hall of Fame is Janiece Bergland, a longtime local choir director and artist.

Her induction will be marked with a celebration in Central Park following the parade on July 4. She will receive an award during the first break in the music by Endless Summer.  She hopes to greet many friends and former students in the park.

Born in Zearing, Iowa, and now residing near Floyd with her husband Bruce, Bergland began her teaching career in Tripoli. Following that, she continued as a choral director in Charles City with grades 7 through 9 for 28 years. After retiring, she founded the 30-voice young women’s choir, “Cantangeli,” comprised of outstanding 13- through 20-year olds from the the north Iowa area.

Bergland directed many musicals at the Charles City Middle School, as well as the high school musicals from 1996 to 2002. She directed the Mason City Community production of “The Music Man” in 2001.

She is an experienced stage designer, private voice teacher and choir director, painter and a signature member of the Iowa Watercolor Society. Bergland has painted backdrops for Luther College’s Juletide Festival, Christmas at Wartburg, and Morningside College’s Christmas Festival.

Berglund served as president of the Iowa Choral Directors Association, and in 2000 received their McCowan award for outstanding achievement in Choral Music.

In 1988 she directed the women’s Opus Honor Choir.

In 2002, “Cantangeli” was featured in the Iowa Choral Directors Association summer symposium as the demonstration choir for Canadian composer Stephen Hatfield.  In June of 2003, the choir toured in Seattle and Vancouver, Canada.

Bergland has always found drawing and painting habitual. Following college graduation and a few years of teaching, she and her family traveled several times to New England where Bergland took workshops in watercolor with artists whose work she admired. She and her husband Bruce continue to visit Maine as often as they can. Her work reflects the landscape and sea culture of that area.

In addition, a few years ago, she attended a workshop in the Poconos with figure artist, Don Andrews. A greater interest in painting portraits and people in general resulted. Working almost exclusively in watercolor, Bergland finds the spontaneity and energy in that medium suit her well. Large murals and stage sets require similar techniques, but on a much greater scale.

Though she rarely exhibits at art fairs other than Charles City’s, she has missed only one Art-a-Fest since it began in 1972 and has twice received the “Best In Show” award. Her work hangs in numerous locations around Iowa and surrounding states.

With husband, Bruce, former biology teacher and AEA educational technology consultant, she enjoys spending time at their Portland, Ore., home, Raven Haven, and at their rural Floyd home, Flowerwood Hill. Bergland is compelled to name places.

Their daughter, Daneen and her husband Josh are parents of 9-year-old Flora. They live in Portland, where Daneen teaches writing at Portland State University. Son Robert lives in Austin, Texas, where he is a freelance technician with Sonic Foundry and programmer and project manager with Visiontree, both software companies, serving professional conventions.

Bergland joins Gene Martin, Tim Mitchell, Robert Bourne, and Sally Robertson in the Charles City Fine Arts Hall of Fame.

 

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