Q&A – Questions & Artists – Sally Berner

“Sanctuary Hound,” in the permanent collection of the Dunnegan Gallery of Art in Bolivar, Missouri. This piece won First Prize at the “Art Show at the Dog Show,” in Wichita, Kansas.

Many readers will recognize Sally Berner as a gifted artist specializing in portraits of dogs. Some know she also does landscape and still life paintings.

Berner has won regional and national awards for her animal portraits done in a realistic style. Her website is artists.com/berner.htm and her work can also be seen during the season at the Edgewood Orchard Gallery (edgewoodorchard.com) near Fish Creek. Recently, Berner displayed a piece in the Miller Art Museum’s Door County Land Trust exhibit, “This Land is Your Land.”

Randy Rasmussen (RR): Sally, thanks for doing the interview. Where were you born and raised?

Sally Berner (SB): I was born and grew up in Kewaunee, Wisconsin.

RR: Growing up did you have an individual or individuals that encouraged you in your art?

SB: First I have to thank my mother for all of her encouragement. Thinking back I can remember copying some of the characters in the Frank Baum book, Wizard of Oz, and showing them to my mother. She loved my work.

I spent two years at Wayland Academy, a private school in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, where one of my instructors, Bev Dohmann, gave me positive feelings about my abilities. Later, as I became more serious about art I learned technical drawing skills from John Gordon in Green Bay. I think because of Mr. Gordon I have been able to do accurate drawings.

Happy Thanksgiving,” in the permanent collection of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin. This piece won First Prize in The Artist’s Magazine’s annual competition in the animals category.

RR: You obviously love animals. Did you have pets growing up and do you have any now?

SB: I was raised with always a dog in the house. Now I have a Golden Retriever, Ginger, who is 9 years old.

RR: When did you think it was possible to be a successful fine artist?

SB: I think, if there was one moment I knew I could “make it,” it was when I was accepted into the “Birds and Art” show in Wausau, Wisconsin.

Growing up in the early sixties, even taking multiple art classes at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, there did not seem to be careers art for women. Career counselors did not talk about commercial art and graphic design for women.

RR: In 1986 I think you had a “first” in your beginning art career?

SB: That is correct. In 1986 I did my first oil painting in John Gordon’s art class in Green Bay. It was a value sketch of a dog.

RR: Sally, how would you describe your work?

SB: I think some would describe my work as photo-realism yet I really use the brush to give the illusion of detail.

“Curious Hereford,” courtesy Edgewood Orchard Gallery.

RR: I know most portraits are done in the studio. Have you ever tried plein air painting?

SB: I have been doing plein air painting for several years on a limited basis. Painting this way has made me aware of the limitations one has working from only photographs.

RR: In your opinion what are the most important components to creating a good painting?

SB: First I am drawn to a painting with good lighting. I think interesting lighting can “make” a painting. Then there must be good composition because composition takes the viewer into the painting.

RR: What is the most important thing to you in creating your beautiful dog portraits?

SB: I think it is capturing the eyes of the dog. The eyes and nose have to look wet. It seems the viewer is drawn to my portraits by the eyes and then the rest of the painting.

RR: You get one artist to paint with for a day. Who is it?

SB: Marc Hanson. (Mr. Hanson’s work was on the cover of the November 2012 issue of Southwest Art.) I took several workshops with him and he has an amazing ability to take complex subjects and simplify them into a great painting. He is able to describe to students what he is doing and why.

RR: Thank you again for your interview.