Danelle Bergstrom


Jane Danelle Bergstrom is an Australian visual artist known for both evocative landscapes and portraits of significant Australians.

Early life and education

Bergstrom was born in Sydney Australia. She attended Hunters Hill High School and studied art at the Julian Ashton school and Bachelors of Art Education at Alexander Mackie CAE. Her sister is Antarctic ecologist, Dana Bergstrom.

Career

Bergstrom began her career in the 1980s as a high school art teacher. She moved into tertiary education as Head of Department in a visual design college in the 1990s She began exhibiting works in 1980s, in major art prizes and solo shows by the 1990s.

Public works

Bergstrom has two works in the collection of the Australian National Portrait Gallery, one of Australian aviator Nancy Bird Walton entitled 'Pioneer', and another work entitled 'Vivisector' of the Australian playwright David Williamson.
Between 2007 and 2017 Bergstrom completed 24 public portrait commissions including portraits of all six Chief Justices of the Northern Territory Supreme Court as part of the court's Centenary celebration. These are exhibited in the main hall of the Supreme Court in Darwin. Many of her commissioned portraits are found in the collections of Australian courthouses and universities.

Awards and prizes

Bergstrom has been a finalist of the Australian portrait prize, Archibald Prize for painting notable Australians: 1995 singer/songwriter Jon English - Packing room prize winner, artist John Firth Smith 1998 & 2001, , artist , industrialist and patron of the arts, Franco Belgiorno-Nettis- highly commended, Actor Jack Thompson 2007 - Packing Room Prize, Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe 2008, Artist Guy Warren 2016.
She has won the People Choice Award and the Portia Geach Memorial Portrait Prize at the SH Irvin Gallery five times, including for a portrait of Australian dancer Janet Vernon and choreographer Graeme Murphy in 2013.

Personal life

Bergstrom is known for works inspired by the historic township of Hill End where she moved to with her two children, son Shannan and daughter Alexarndra in 1997.