Artist Brendan Bercot Finding a Path

by Donavan Barrier

Artist Brendan Bercot of La Porte, Indiana, is a living witness to how art can express pain and growth and how that pain can be overwhelming.

Growing up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Brendan attended private schools. "I had a good education, a good home life, and everything like that," he said. "I pretty much had anything we needed, which was nice." Brendan knew that he was good at art from an early age. "I would draw on anything in front of me, which I'm sure was annoying to my parents," he chuckled. In kindergarten, he would draw Ninja Turtles for his classmates. "While other people were playing video games, I was always drawing my own alternate universe. You can say it's second nature, almost."

His parents enrolled him in various art classes throughout his childhood and adolescence. At Concordia High School, there was only one art teacher in the whole school. He felt frustrated by what he described as a lack of challenge, like starting at step one in every class. "I was bummed out that I wasn't going to be able to challenge myself," he said. "That was something I had to do on my own."

In Brendan's junior year of high school, he grew as an artist. After enrolling in South Side High School, he was introduced to a more stimulating artistic environment. He experimented with other art forms, from cartooning to photography and painting. By his admission, there was a bit of culture shock. "I had a great education. I'm not taking away from that…," he admitted. "But I wasn't used to the public-school element of funding the arts." Unlike at Concordia, there was much more emphasis on the arts. With passionate teachers and a curriculum emphasizing artistic development, Brendan found the challenge he craved. "I was there to just kind of flourish from that element." Thanks to his private school education, the credits he had earned allowed him to skip most of his basic classes, only needing to take law and chemistry to fulfill his required elements so that he could focus solely on his passion for art.

Another artistic passion that he had was murals. As a child, his mother asked him if he could paint a floral print in the foyer of their home. At age twenty, he painted a seawall at lake James in Angola, Indiana. "It was eighteen feet high by fifty-two feet wide," he said with a nostalgic tone. "That turned out to be a great summer on the lake. It was therapeutic, almost". While arts were a mainstay in his life, he would take up another habit, drugs and alcohol. Throughout his adolescence and adulthood, trauma and dark times led him to struggle with addiction. He remembered when he had to choose between going to jail or choosing recovery. Before moving to Michigan, a close friend passed away from an overdose. By his admission, rather than seeing that as an initiative to change, he amplified his substance use to numb his feelings. He still painted and drew and began doing so under the influence, which complicated his feelings for art.

The Covid pandemic and the shutdown across America added further to his emotional turmoil. He found himself spiraling until he was ultimately made to attend drug court. He says that moment was when he finally realized he needed to change. "I was at a fork in the road at the time," he said. "I was ready for change. I think that was key for recovery and seeing that change. I wanted to go back to the person I knew I was capable of being."

Deciding to choose recovery, he had all his records transferred to La Porte, Indiana, where he resides. He met the Honorable Judge Greta Friedman, who offered him support by having him go through drug and problem-solving court. "It's definitely been a breath of fresh air. I've grown more in the past few years than in the last twenty. Just finding out who I really am and what makes me tick and doing things you generally like to do and what you're driven to do." When mentioning Judge Friedman, a thankful smile bloomed across his face. "You can tell how much passion and empathy she has for people. She's been a great mentor and someone to work with."

Since that meeting just over a year ago, Brendan has felt better than ever. While working with the problem-solving court, he figured out where his problems stemmed from and dealt with and changed his perspective on life. He was nervous about picking up a paintbrush. Eventually, he gained confidence, renewed his passion, and strengthened his talents without the influence of substances. His skills have found their way into another avenue; at the Three20 Recovery Center in Chesterton, Indiana. Some of his artwork is on display and has become another studio away from his home in La Porte. Currently, he is working on murals and portraits to be displayed there for patrons and other recovery participants to admire. "It's a part of who I am and always will be," he said with a thoughtful look. In an essay he wrote for the problem-solving court, he explained;

"Art helps us imagine possibilities and see a future beyond the present moment. This act of imagination is actually an act of survival. It is preparing us to imagine the possibilities and hopefully survive those possibilities."