Ciel Bergman

CIEL BERGMAN SEPT. 11, 1938- JANUARY 15, 2017 Artist and Environmentalist, Ciel Bergman (AKA) Cheryl O. Bowers, was born Cheryl Maria Olson in Berkely, CA on September 11, 1938. She remained a native Californian until 1994, when she moved to New Mexico to paint and concentrate on the environment. She died of metastatic lung cancer in Pleasanton, CA not far from where she was born, on January 15, at age 78. Ciel was a master painter totally committed to the environment and feminine issues. She felt passionately that beauty and the feminine could save our planet and help restore world order. Following a dream in which she envisioned waste plastic entering our highways, she put together a team including her then partner, Gary Fishbach, and son, Erik Bowers, that developed a patented process to accomplish this. The resulting product, "Plasphalt," was produced in New Mexico and used on several highway projects including NM I -25 S between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. The idea was a win/win one, save the planet from the ravages of excess waste plastic, and improve the roads. For mostly political reasons, the business failed in New Mexico, although a 1.2 mile segment of I- 25 still exists (17 years) and has proven to be more resistant to wear than a control segment that did not receive the "Plasphalt" (Note: waste plastic is being used today in the highways of India, and China. and the history of "Plasphalt" is archived at the Center for Art + Environment, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV). Educated first as an RN, she preferred to follow her artistic instincts, and in 1973 earned an MFA with honors from The San Francisco Art Institute. She then taught at UC Berkely, Cal-State Hayward, and U of Oregon before joining the art faculty of UC Santa Barbara in 1976, where she remained until 1994 when she retired Professor Emeritus. The New Mexico years began in 1994 with the building of a studio on Cerro Pedernal (Georgia O'Keefe Country in the vicinity of Abiquiu). Her time there was divided between painting and environmental issues ("Plasphalt"). In 2006, she left the isolation of the Pedernal studio and moved to Santa Fe to concentrate on painting once again, In 2011, with her partner, Ed Okun, she built the work/live studio of her dreams in a converted warehouse where she painted until her health failed. Bergman has exhibited nationally and internationally including exhibitions at galleries and museums in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, Brussels, and London. Her work is in a number of public and private collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Santa Barbara Museum, the UC Berkely Museum, and Orange County Museum of Art. Several corporate collections hold work including The Gap, the Capitol Group, Bando de Roma and Atlantic Richfield, among others. Bergman was a charismatic tour de force, loved by many for her open, warm, inclusive and giving nature. She will continue to live on through her art (three upcoming shows include "Alcoves #7" Feb 3 Mar 26, 2017 at New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM, "Works on Paper 4" Feb 3 March 17, 2017 at the Coastline Gallery of Art, Newport Beach, CA) and "The Linens" CCA Santa Fe March, 2018and in the memory of the many whose lives she touched. She is survived by her former husband, Lynn F.Bowers, two children Bridgit Koller and Erik Bowers, her sister Janice Leiser, five stepbrother/sisters, five grandchildren, and her partner of seven years, Dr. Edward Okun. A memorial service is planned for March 25 at Ciel's Studio.