Artist Statement

Deborah Burke

We live in a diverse, magical world of color filled with movement and shapes and life which occurs in a billion different, fascinating forms.    As a child, this magic and color fascinated me and would cause me to stop in my tracks to simply be in whatever space I was in to breathe in the colors or to watch a bird in flight.  I was mesmerized and entranced. I could sit for hours just watching, just being.

As an artist, and a child at heart, I endeavor to capture some of these amazing energies in paint.  My favored mediums are acrylic paint and clay.  Acrylic paint is fascinating – when I apply it to canvas or wood, I allow it to move and interact with whatever other mediums I am using.  I listen to the way it wants to flow and allow it the space to create its own art, its own beauty. 

I am inspired to paint by the colors I see in nature around me – this is the beginning point.  I apply those colors to canvas and then watch what is happening.  Most times the painting takes on a life of its own and I am merely a spectator, an assistant to provide the mediums to be applied to the canvas.  Hours pass without any understanding of time – again, as when I was a child, I am entranced….

My work is largely abstraction because it allows the viewer to have their own experience of the colors, the magic and life itself – a multifaceted moment in time.   In a way, it is like painting emotions or feelings which allow others to share a moment in the universe of color.  The absence of created form allows for an individual experience where movement itself is a result of the eye encompassing the whole, with the colors themselves luring one into a different space, challenging one to create new personal associations and possibly even to question the instability of our own created reality.  The textures that are applied to the canvas as well allow the experience to become more tactile, thereby enhancing the involvement of the viewer on multiple levels at once.

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Clay is another medium I enjoy working with, and working with it makes me feel like I am creating with Mother Earth herself.  It is smooth, and malleable and lovely to hold but has its own rules and behaviors.  Sometimes it shows me what is hidden inside of itself – a face, a shape, an idea.  Other times, it simply allows itself to be shaped into a form that can be used for practical purposes as if it wants to be loved by a human.   It is truly fascinating to watch people pick up bowls and hold them in their hands – seemingly as if the holding creates abundance and bounty in their lives.  The glazes that I choose to work with are glazes that love to flow in the hot environment of the kiln, and when cooled visually create the experience of movement where they are seen to spill down into the centre of the bowl or on the outside of a form.

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Nothing in life is permanent.  Everything is ephemeral, and only lasts for a period of time.  It is this very truth that allows me as an artist to continually create, to continually honor the impermanent, and to continually honor the beauty of life itself.

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Namaste