![Frances Hodgkins fellows (from left) Grahame Sydney (1978), Kushana Bush (2011), Julia Morison ...](https://www.odt.co.nz/sites/default/files/styles/odt_landscape_extra_large_21_10/public/story/2016/11/slr_9562.jpg?itok=sgZxWIZH)
The sculptor was the 1976 fellow. He was among about 170 people at the Hocken Library last night to celebrate the launch of the exhibition, Undreamed Of ... 50 years of the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship.
Since completing the fellowship, Mr Bergquist said he had only returned to Dunedin once previously, fleetingly, on a business trip.
"It really is fantastic to come back to look at Dunedin," he said.
The Auckland native said despite the differences between his home city and Dunedin, the city grew on him during his fellowship year and left a lasting impression.
There was "nothing negative" he could say about his time as the Frances Hodgkins fellow, although he said it was stressful at times.
Following his year in Dunedin, life got in the way of his career as an artist.
"I would have loved to carry it on but I went in a different course," he said.
"I had two kids and we had to look after them. The family life interfered."
Faced with the choice of continuing his passion or providing a comfortable life for his family, Mr Bergquist decided to give up sculpting.
He started a business that provided a "comprehensive support service to the arts", including work in installations in New Zealand and abroad. He was joined by many former fellows at the exhibition’s launch.
The Frances Hodgkins Fellowship was established by the University of Otago Council in 1962 and first awarded in 1966.
Named after one of New Zealand’s most distinguished painters, Dunedin-born Frances Hodgkins, it offers a 12-month fellowship with studio space and a salary to artists who live in New Zealand.
The exhibition will run until February 26 next year and art will be displayed at the Hocken Library and Dunedin Public Art Gallery.