RESEARCH FOCI

Plein-air Site Sketching as artistic media + community engagement

Exhibitions & Conferences:

- ASLA Southeast Conference- Field Sketch Speaker / Facilitator: April 2023

- Selected Works in Lyndon House Art Center’s 48th Annual Juried Exhibition: (2) Plein-air Sketches, Show Opening- March 2023

- Plein Air 2020-2022, Solo Exhibition at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, May-July 2022

- UGA College of Environment & Design CIRCLE Gallery- Solo Exhibition: Design +Sketch + Process, Fall 2022-Spring 2023

- LABASH Site Sketching workshop- Speaker / Facilitator: March 2022

- Plein Air 2016-2019, Solo Exhibition at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia, May-July 2019

DESIGN (SKETCH) PROCESS, UGA College of Environment & Design CIRCLE Gallery- Solo Exhibition: Fall 2022-Spring 2023

A “behind the scenes” tour of Cameron Berglund’s work through 17 years of professional practice. The exhibition uses a combination of interactive elements and Berglund’s pieces to highlight the pivotal role that both hand and digital sketching plays in the design process. FULL ARTICLE HERE

Area Of Investigation

Landscape Architecture’s Role In Community-Based Tourism (majority world focus)

Research & Press:

- UGA MLA Thesis (2016): Landscape Architecture’s Role In CommunityBased Tourism – A Design Approach For Community-Based Tourism In Seacacar, Guatemala

- Experiential Research (2018), Working Alongside Q’eqchi Mayan Community to Develop Eco-Lodge Tourism Masterplan

Current & Potential Collaborators:

- Hitesh Metah, FASLA

- Daniel Winterbottom, Associate Professor, University of Washington

- Dr. B. Bynum Boley, Professor UGA, Parks, Recreation and Tourism

Management (PRTM)

Reserva Cañón Seacacar, El Estor Guatemala

The community of Seacacar is a burgeoning eco-tourism destination in eastern Guatemala. This community based tourism initiative was the focus of my graduate studies thesis in which I developed a beneficial approach for working with the community as a landscape architecture professional. Since completing my degree I have continued to pursue this research by working directly with the community. Currently I have helped them solidify the overall masterplan vision for the site and a comprehensive layout of the current and future component. Additionally, I paired my environmental graphic design course with their need for branding and signage. The students produced multiple concepts based on the site, culture, and multiple languages of the community.

Collaborative Service

Engaging in service to others and with others is a key element in my professional and personal life.

In addition to being actively engaged in my own, and my foster children’s lives, I SEEK TO EMPOWER YOUTH AROUND THE WORLD WITH THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS I HAVE BEEN GIVEN. This has taken many forms over the years and I am grateful to experience the mutual benefits that grow out of these opportunities.

SELECT SERVICE + OUTREACH EXPERIENCE

- Athens Area Homeless Shelter: o Childcare Assistance & Mentoring (2019-Present)

- Reservacion Seacacar & Aktenamit Guatemala: o Developed a beneficial approach for landscape architects to work with community based tourism organizations. Pursing this approach Cameron continues to donate design and illustration services to community-based-ecotourism sites in Eastern Guatemala. Visiting the sites last spring allowed him to work directly with the communities. (2016-Present)

- LOVE Guatemala: o A vocational school ministry teaching art and culinary skills to under privileged children in Guatemala. Taught lessons on watercolor sketching and English. (2018-Present)

- UGA Social Justice Symposium: o Logo Design & Volunteer (2016-2017)

- Refugee Family Services (Atlanta): o Taught English 1 on 1 with an adult student refugee. (2013)

- CIDI Training Center for Gardening & Landscape, Kampala Uganda: o Taught landscape design and installation at the 2 year vocational school that targeted low-income Ugandan youth. Helped to design the curriculum and worked directly with the ministry of education to get the program accredited. (20112013)

- MITS (Made In The Streets) Nairobi Kenya: o A recovering center for former street-kids in Nairobi. Assisted with design drawings of existing buildings for a national permit of their existing facility. Taught drawing and SketchUp classes to students at their Nairobi facility. (2010)

- Ninos de La Luz, Nicaragua: o A recovering center for former street-kids in Nicaragua. Taught art classes with students. (2010)

- Kids Alive Kenya: o Provided an updated 10 year masterplan for their Northern Kenya child-home and education facility. (2010)

- My Refuge House, Philippines : o Provided detailed landscape concept & planting design for a care facility of children formerly involved in sexual exploitation (2009)

- Whiz Kidz Denver, CO: o Mentored non-English speaking children in a reading and writing program (2008-2010)

Ak’tenamit is a non-profit organization that has worked with Quechi-Mayan communities in Eastern Guatemala for over 25 years. Continuing on my graduate studies research, I have gotten to work alongside two of these communities to help them develop their eco-tourism destinations.

AthSketch: Community Plein Air Sketching

Combining my enjoyment of hand graphics and sketching I created the meetup group AthSketch in 2019 to act as a catalyst for folks to draw on-location. Based on the global organization UrbanSketchers, our group meets weekly and sketches everything from historic building facades on UGA’s north campus to intriguing flora in the nearby ethnobotanical garden. Sharing my love of sketching along with the skills and techniques has helped to bring together students , faculty and community members from all kinds of diverse backgrounds.