From street signs to graffiti, the city overflows with text. Urban Imprints is Jan Z. von Bergen’s response to the energy of the written word found in nearly every culture. Her prints and ceramics explore the convergence of cultural and personal energy that gives meaning to the written word.

Using notched pens, reeds, and brushes, and a variety of printmaking media, von Bergen creates calligraphic marks that evoke the letters and shapes of language. Her ceramic vessels incorporate sculptural elements that evoke the word in three dimensions, with her sectional colographs becoming puzzle pieces composed in patterns to create meaning. While the subtle use of color plays a key role in this collection, line, form, and texture are the predominant elements expressing von Bergen’s elegant response to the written word.

Jan Z. von Bergen has been an artist all her life, and has taught art for 31 years in North Clackamas and Beaverton school districts. During that time she has taught and developed the curricula for sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, drawing, painting and computer graphics and animation. She holds a B.S. from Portland State University 1975 and an M.A.T. in Art Education from Lewis and Clark College 1984. Her master’s studio focus included ceramics and printmaking. She was a Fulbright Scholar to Japan in art education in 2003. Since retiring from the Beaverton School District, she has worked in printmaking and ceramics. She continues her interest in education as a substitute teacher, a M.A.T intern supervisor for Lewis and Clark College, and teacher of Solar Plate Intaglio Printmaking and Ceramics classes at the Multnomah Art Center.