Help archive John's artwork as he fights cancer

John bjerklie is fighting cancer. Funds are for preserving his life's work.

Artist John Bjerklie was diagnosed with cancer in 2020 and continues to fight it while receiving treatments. John continues his studio practice in the midst of this but needs help especially to archive and preserve the body of work he has been dedicated to for the last 5 decades.

The funds will go to the digitizing of hundreds of VHS tapes and CDs of his (BigHat’s) performances along with digital photograpy of thousands of watercolor, oil, and acrylic paintings. We wish to construct an artist archive online that we will work to place at different institutions. Any amount helps and is greatly appreciated.

If you’d like more background on John and BigHat’s work, please continue reading…

BigHat has been working tirelessly since the last millennium churning out painting after painting for low pay and under tight deadlines as an artist helping John Bjerklie realize the “SlowHealingTrain” project of painting a portrait of every person in the world by the year 2099. These live painting sessions have taken place in a wide variety of venues from art galleries, city parks, broom closets, schools, art fairs, news stands, bars and, during the 2020 pandemic, by way of FaceTime and Zoom. The idea is simple, BigHat wishes to celebrate every person on the planet by saluting them by doing each other’s portraits. Simple as that seems, it has produced a massive catalogue of artworks by BigHat and friends. Many of the live portrait painting sessions, where BigHat and a visiting artist paint each other’s portraits, have been recorded on VHS and there is a massive amount of footage recording these now historical performances.

On behalf of John Bjerklie’s SlowHealingTrain Production, BigHat would love to thank you personally, but he is too busy working on his next portrait.

*no raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or returns on investment are offered in exchange for any donations made to the GoFundMe.