ABOUT
Bernard Trainor is a landscape designer and multidisciplinary artist living on the Central Coast of California for the past 30 years. Originally, he was raised on the Mornington Peninsula along Australia's rugged South Eastern Coast near the city of Melbourne. It was here that he developed a lasting awareness and appreciation of the potent landscapes that inspired him to pursue a career in art and design.
Trainor stewards his prolific creative energy into one integrated practice across painting, sculpture, design, and installation in a studio deep within his own personal garden. This immersive experience has a significant effect on his art.
He approaches his art and design through a very personal lens, interpreting wild and built landscapes into abstracted forms on large canvas and board. The art is exploring the lasting images he has 'absorbed' living on the edge of the Australian and Californian coastline.
"Whilst traveling, I soon discovered that my favorite art, architecture, and landscapes are deeply connected to the place from which they have grown.
My intention is to explore my art in this way — searching for clarity, expressing what is absolutely essential."
This simple observation and a keen awareness of the regional context inform all his pursuits. Like his gardens, Trainor is wild, grounded, unrestrained, and experimental. He is attuned to seasons, natural systems and pattern language — both of the earth and within himself. These intimate interactions can be personal, overwhelming, lasting, fleeting, fulfilling, and above all else, humbling. This is the source for inspiration underlying his place-driven art and design.
Trainors art continues to be included in gallery and museum exhibitions, and also held in a range of private and public collections throughout the United States
GROUND STUDIO
Bernard Trainor is the founding principal and design director of Ground Studio, a team of artists and designers working together to envision and craft contextual California landscapes. They thoughtfully balance the character of the land, the identity of the architecture, and the lifestyles of people who live there. Designing in a range of scales from compact urban gardens to expansive rural sites, our designs inspire a deep connection with the land.
Drawing on thirty-five years of passionate commitment to the study and practice of landscape design Trainor has completed four academic programs, practiced professionally in three countries, and continues to lecture extensively on the subject of Landscape Design throughout the world.