Shining light brightens Haitian walls

Area artist adapts cultural style for orphanage chapel mural

By Kate Hayden

khayden@charlescitypress.com

A few buckets of paint, a sheer sheet and a bunch of magic markers: it didn’t take much beyond planning for Charles City artist Janiece Bergland to brighten up an orphanage far away from home.

Bergland painted the 10 x 10 mural over a period of three mornings during the January Homes for Haiti trip, taking inspiration from local art she found online before leaving Iowa with the group.

“It’s a very common thing for everybody to do art” in Haiti, where the focus is on bright color and sometimes abstract pieces, Bergland said. “Lots of color and life. I just started looking for pictures of Haitian children, and adapted to include them. I made an abstract background to try to blend them together.”

Bergland created her final design before leaving home, tweaking it to scale with a light marker on sheer fabric so she could transfer the sketch to the chapel wall in Haiti. She also settled on the final text of her design, speaking with the group’s interpreter to translate “Let Your Light Shine” into the native Creole language.

“It just seemed like something that fit,” Bergland said. “I asked the kids if they knew that song (‘This Little Light of Mine’). I don’t know if they understood me, but they acted excited and like they did.”

Working outdoors, Bergland adapted to concrete that flaked and crumbled near the last two feet of the building due to high salt content in the sand, and she limited her work hours to mornings to keep wet paint out of direct sunlight. When she flew back home with the rest of the Floyd County team, the primary paint and markers she packed in her suitcase stayed behind at the orphanage for the kids’ use.

Bergland, who has designed mural backdrops for institutions like Wartburg and Luther College, also worked with the medical team in the Haitian country to deliver medicine and treatment in mobile clinics. At the orphanage she was struck by how much pride the students kept in their appearances and behavior, sitting quietly and disciplined during church services running two hours long.

“We were prepared for the poverty, but it wasn’t a city like this,” Bergland said. “It was great being part of a team that was all pulling in the same direction…I think we got as much or more as they did. It was rewarding.”