A chef by trade, Airdrie resident Darryl Berntsen is taking his talents beyond the culinary arts.
He will have some of his photography on display at City Hall for the next two months.
Berntsen has been involved with photography for the past 16 years and over the last five has really put a lot of focus into the craft. He recently launched his own website and through the City’s Art in City Hall initiative, his work will be given optimal exposure.
Airdrie Community Developer Michael McAllister heads up the initiative that has been running for about five years.
“We had a lot of demand from the art community that they needed to have a central point to display their work,” said McAllister. “The City staff looked at some solutions and we liked this idea, it’s not uncommon in many communities to have public art displayed in municipal buildings.”
Berntsen works as a chef at the Rocky View Lodge and just became involved with the program after having some of his photography displayed at Genesis Place.
“I first learned about it when I was working out at Genesis Place and I had seen some of the art hanging there,” said Berntsen. “I thought it was something that I could do and it was actually my wife who pushed me to do it.”
For the next two months, Berntsen’s work will be on display in a couple of different meeting rooms at City Hall though the pieces will move, temporarily, to be on display at the Airdrie Regional Air Show in July.
Though he has been taking his photography to a more serious plateau, Berntsen says his preference is still to be more of a freelance photographer than work under contract.
“I actually had a person ask if I wanted to go to Costa Rica to take wedding photos for them,” said Bernsten. “I’m more into just going for a walk and snapping photos along the way though.”
The subject of much of Berntsen’s work is the outdoors, whether it’s nature or architecture, as illustrated in photos of a sunset in the Yukon or the Eiffel Tower, both of which will be on display.
Art in City Hall has been a vehicle for local artists to get their names and their work out in to the community and McAllister hopes it can lead to more organizations following the same path.
“We’re looking to be an example to the community,” said McAllister. “We encourage other organizations to do things like this; I hear all these stories from people who have seen the art work here at City Hall or at Genesis Place, it’s great for the artists and it’s great for the organizations.”
Artists are given two month blocks to display their art, and restrictions are very loose in terms of number of pieces and content.
“The selection committee has never rejected anyone,” said McAllister. “We are open to most anything.”
Anyone who is interested in having their work displayed at either City Hall or Genesis Place can contact Mike McAllister at [email protected]
Visit his website at http://frozenmoments79.wix.com/forevercaptured
