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SUPPLIER<br />
Beth Bergman ’73 and her Wet Paint store are beloved Grand Avenue fixtures.<br />
INTERVIEW BY JAN SHAW-FLAMM ’76 > PHOTO BY DAVID J. TURNER<br />
Owner: Beth Bergman ’73<br />
Business: Wet Paint Artists’ Materials and Framing, 1684 Grand Ave., St. Paul<br />
Years as owner: 29<br />
Number of art materials at Wet Paint: 35,000<br />
Favorite art supply: Must she choose just one? “Paint, of course, and I love paper. Paper can be a work of art in itself.<br />
There are subtle differences between a paper made in a mill in Montreal and one made in Italy or Asia. And brushes! A<br />
handle that’s weighted just right with a beautiful finish and just the right hair with the perfect ‘snap.’ It’s very tactile<br />
and you miss out on that if you buy online.”<br />
Industry honors: Bergman was inducted into the International Art Materials Association Hall of Fame at this year’s<br />
annual conference, held in Minneapolis.<br />
Mac in the ’70s: “It was the [late art professor Jerry] Rudquist era. Studio art was a nice blend of learning techniques<br />
and developing subject matter and what you wanted to say. It was meant to nurture your art and teach you how to see.”<br />
Evolution from art major to art materials: After graduating, Bergman spent eight years working for a Fortune 500<br />
company in St. Paul while spending her evenings painting in a shared studio space. At 30 she decided to work for Hugh<br />
Huelster ’74, founder of Wet Paint. “So it was only natural that when Hugh was ready to sell a few years later, I would<br />
buy the business.”<br />
Giving back: Bergman has donated money to the Studio Art renovation and expansion project in the Janet Wallace<br />
Fine Arts Center, so that future student artists will have great facilities in which to learn and create.<br />
JAN SHAW-FLAMM ’76 is a staff writer for <strong>Macalester</strong> Today.<br />
FALL 2013 35