OVANES BERBERIAN

I'm going to Monterey tomorrow for a three day workshop with Ovanes Berberian, one of my favorite painters. I've been studying with Brigitte Curt for some time and she studied and continues to study with Ovanes. I had the opportunity to study with him myself in Idaho back in 06 for two weeks. It was amazing. We painted outside in his apple orchard, still life's set up under each tree. It was a wonderful and difficult experience. It was difficult because I was stifled by what I learned for a while, until I began to absorb it weeks later. In the end it was soooo beneficial. I can't wait to find out what happens this weekend. I feel that I am much more prepared to hear and see what he is teaching.
I'll let you know when I get back!


Born and raised in Russian Armenia, Ovanes Berberian received his first academic training from his father, a college art professor and designer of theater sets. Shortly after immigrating to the United States in 1977, he met Sergei Bongart, a philosopher and painter who taught in Los Angeles and gave summer workshops at his Idaho studio. Ovanes was immediately drawn to Bongart’s art, whose sense of values and colors were Russian in spirit. It was Bongart who convinced him to paint directly from nature and fully experience his subjects while painting them. Ovanes notes in a South West Art interview, “Painting from nature is honest and by being honest my intuitive character and style are translated to the canvas.”



Although working from his outdoor field sketches, Ovanes paints his larger studio landscapes and still-life's primarily from memory, incorporating abstract aspects as the painting develops. Citing color harmony as the most important element of his work, he creates a variety of textures, using short, thick strokes of paint in the foreground and longer, dryer ones in the distance, thus creating the illusion of rhythm in the painting.

Ovanes Berberian lives on a six-acre homestead in Eastern Idaho, his studio built in the form of an American church. He also has a studio in Carpinteria, California where he is in much demand for his painting workshops.