John Bergmeier is a unique print and graphic artist whose primary focus in recent years has been on printmaking, though his artistic versatility is displayed in his many mixed media and three-dimensional pieces as well. John enjoys incorporating multiple colors, textures, layers and images to create highly original and distinctive visual narratives. He works with various graphics, photographs, implements and other materials, assimilating these into his art as symbols and reference points. John uses these elements effectively in his pieces to provoke thought, evoke emotion and perhaps revive forgotten memories in the viewer by illustrating meaningful moments and events, or by memorializing life stories. The artist then allows the viewer to interpret each creation based upon his or her own particular understanding and experience. These narrative works reflect John’s unending fascination with how choice and God’s will converge in our lives to comprise the personal path each of us ultimately walks during our lifetime.

Born and raised in Nebraska, John Bergmeier now resides in North Carolina.  Coming from the American heartland, John traces the roots of his inspiration back to his Christian upbringing, and considers his faith an integral part of his art and of his motivation. He states, “I am increasingly becoming more confident and daring in expressing my Christian faith through my art, that and to touch the emotions of people is what I strive for.”

Indeed, in his current works, this frequently exhibited and award-winning artist continues his exploration of the various perceptions of the mysterious union of the physical and spiritual lives of human beings. Piece by piece, the experience of each real or imagined person is depicted by certain icons left behind in time, such as images from old children's books, passages from Sunday School, photographs of family, farm tools or other implements, and more. For John, these apparently mundane every-day items excite his imagination and stimulate his own, personal memories and emotions, sometimes even serving as the actual catalysts for his final artistic conceptions. While referencing familiar or traditional themes, in John’s hands, these images, as applied in each piece, become intriguingly profound and layered in meaning, often accompanied by biblical passages, hymn quotes, or original poetry—all designed to draw the viewer toward the inevitable recognition of both the essential importance of living and the unavoidable certainty of death.

Bergmeier’s singular and provocative art results from his strong religious convictions and his abiding love for his craft. Working intuitively with the power and symbolism of compelling images and eloquent words, John combines his extraordinary artistic sense with diverse materials to create each captivating print, mixed media piece, or three-dimensional sculpture. John Bergmeier is a completely original and absorbing artist whose distinctive and exceptional work is as replete with multiple layers of meaning as it is with multiple layers of color, texture, imagery and materials.