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Kathryn Burton

The Arts Center Exhibitions:

• 'Portals,' Winter Show & Silent Auction, 2011
• 'Where Birds Dream' Show and Silent Auction, Winter 2010

Artist's Statement, 'through' - 'Portals,' Winter Show & Silent Auction, 2011:

     medium: Collage, paint, cigar box, stitching

When I considered the winter show’s theme “portals” I imagined taking the perspective of seeing the wider world through a narrow lens. A play on the concepts ‘refuge’ and ‘prospect’ came to mind. I also thought of the theme in terms of ‘passage’ or a way of moving from one place to another. I am using a cigar box, to add a three dimensional quality to the piece, and acrylic paint to create my artwork. To represent the notion of passage I would like to incorporate an old photo of the Golden Gate Bridge in some way. I haven’t decided whether to collage it in or paint its likeness on the box. However this turns out I hope to reflect my thoughts in my piece. I never know where the creative process will take me once I’ve begun to work!

Artist Statement, “The end of the road” for "Where Birds Dream" Show & Silent Auction, Winter 2010

     medium: cigar box, maps, acrylic paint, fabric, grommets

Although I now live many miles away I am delighted to be ‘returning’ for the 2nd annual holiday invitational show at the Corvallis Arts Center. Once very active in the local art scene I am now devoting much of my time to teaching and researching at a large land-grant institution in the East. I still enjoy the act of artistic creation and am currently enrolled in a botanical illustration program and I play, as often as I can, with the free-stitch mechanism on my sewing machine to create wild patterns across layers of fabrics. 

For my ‘birdhouse’ I am merging my interests in painting and textiles arts; combining painted and collaged landscapes with surface-decorated textiles. I like to create pieces from recycled materials (at least in part) and am repurposing a cigar box to use as the body of the house. It will be painted, collaged with maps and over painted. A highly over-stitched piece of fabric will become the roof sections which will be connected using grommets and string. The result will be a somewhat ‘fanciful’ birdhouse; not usable as such but, reminiscent in form. I hope you enjoy it!

Biography:

B.S. –Art, with emphasis in painting, OSU
M.S. –Interior Design, OSU
Ph.D. –Cultural and Historical Aspects of the Near Environment, OSU

Currently I am engaged in a tenure-track position in the Division of Design & Merchandising at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV. I teach Design History, Design Foundations and Residential Interior Design Studio courses. A recent home renovation has allowed a return to my little studio space in our sunroom where I make art and contemplate the distant hills of my newly adopted state.   Nov, 2011