Bergeron, Jean-Claude, 1941- : Jean-Claude Bergeron was born in Saint-Fortunat, Quebec (Eastern Townships) on July 11th, 1941. After starting his degree in classical studies, he obtained a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Ottawa. Upon graduation, he joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in the early 1960s and served in Paris from 1964 to 1968, where he was exposed to many cultural and artistic experiences. As a result of these experiences, he decided to quit working at Foreign Affairs and enrol in a bachelor's degree in visual arts at the University of Ottawa. He continued his artistic studies at the École supérieure d'Art d'Aix-en-Provence, France, then completed a Master's degree in Education through Art with Advanced Studies in Printmaking at Pennsylvania State University. His work was exhibited in graduate exhibitions at the École supérieure d'Art d'Aix-en-Provence and at Pennsylvania State University.
Bergeron also obtained a Bachelor of Education from the University of Ottawa and began his joint career as a teacher and designer in visual arts at De La Salle Public High School in 1973. In 1975, he founded the De La Salle education gallery, the first of the Pro Arts network (a network of six educational galleries located in various French-language high schools across Ontario that circulated, on an annual basis, around twenty exhibitions of works by professional French-speaking artists).
Bergeron created prints between 1971 and 1982. His interest in printmaking reflected and typified the enormous interest in, and support for, printmaking in Canada during the mid-twentieth century (particularly evident in Ontario and Quebec, which formed the hubs of national printmaking societies). In 1982, Bergeron decided to take a two-year break from art to establish the ARTS Concentration at De La Salle High School in Ottawa, now known as The Ontario Center of Artistic Excellence. Although he originally intended to take a temporary break from art making, this was not the case. He ended up selling his printing press and his engraving equipment to a collective of artists from the Outaouais. In 1992, he decided to open his own art gallery, the Galerie d'Art Jean-Claude Bergeron in Ottawa, specializing in selling fine art prints by Canadian and international artists.
After nearly 30 years, Bergeron is still the director and owner of the Galerie d'Art Jean-Claude Bergeron. Since its inception, the gallery has presented over two hundred exhibitions of works by Canadian and international artists. During its international exhibitions, the gallery received several artists from France, Poland, Brazil, Spain, Belgium, Finland, the Czech Republic and Colombia. The gallery works closely with several European galleries. The Galerie d'Art Jean-Claude Bergeron instituted the Art and Paper Biennale, a pan-Canadian event aimed at professional artists who use paper in the production of their works. Bergeron's gallery held seven of these biennials.
Bergeron was a member of the organizing committee for the cultural component of the 2001 Francophonie Games and a member of the international jury, Painting Section of these same games. He served on the Canada-Community-Ontario Agreement Applications Committee of Canadian Heritage and was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Arts Council. In 2000, the Eastern Ontario Public School Board established the Jean-Claude Bergeron Foundation, whose objective is to financially support the creative projects of young Franco-Ontarians registered at the De La Salle Center of Artistic Excellence.
Bergeron has had several solo exhibitions and his works are part of public and private collections, both in Canada (Galerie 93, Toronto; Galerie Graphia, Edmonton; Wallack's Gallery, Ottawa; Galerie du Long-Sault, St-André Est; Cercle Universitaire, Ottawa; Galerie Lyson, Toronto; Galerie Den-Hart, Ottawa; Galerie de l'Estampe, Hull; Galerie L'Imagier, Aylmer; Galerie De La Salle, Ottawa; Galerie Thériault, Timmins; Galerie Confédération, Welland; Galerie La Citadelle, Cornwall; Galerie Calligrammes, Ottawa; and Galerie L'Autre Équivoque, now Galérie St-Laurent + Hill, Ottawa) and abroad (École supérieure d'Art d'Aix-en-Provence and Pennsylvania State University). His work can be found in the collections of Library and Archives Canada (legal deposit); Bibliothèque et archives nationales du Québec, Montreal; University of Ottawa; Art Bank of the Canada Council for the Arts; City of Ottawa; Loto Québec; Conseil des Écoles publiques de l'Est de l'Ontario; Ville de Gatineau; Conseil régional de la Culture de l'Outaouais; Franklin Perkins School, Lancaster, Massachussetts; and Concordia University, Montreal.
