ABOUT THE ARTIST

Christian Burchard, from Ashland, Oregon, spent most of his life surrounded by trees. Simply put, he likes wood. Using only the Pacific Madrone burl, Christian makes objects that are gentle, and carry a human touch and sensitivity. “I notice that peoples’ reaction to my objects transcends mere skill and material and connects to the spirit and heart of the maker, a wordless connection that speaks a language all of us can understand”.

ABOUT THE WORK

As a material, wood is a great pleasure for Burchard to work. It can be very soft or very hard, spectacular in color and figure or simple and quiet. It is “an easy material to love.”

The Madrone burl, which grows along the Northwest coast of the United States, has very little commercial value. It is the wildest of all the woods he knows. Not only does it have a wide range of color and texture, it resists all attempts to dry it evenly. It warps or cracks strongly and gets very hard when it dries. This characteristic forces Christian to relinquish control and to let the wood find it’s own shape. He turns the wood while it is still green, and a pleasure to cut and handle. When turned very thin, these vessels don’t crack, but when the wood is left thick, the cracking can create a very dramatic effect as well. The warping and cracking allow the creation of attitude, gesture and when grouping shapes together, relationships.

The soft surface texture is a direct result of the cutting edge of his tools and light sandblasting. Most openings are slightly burnt for contrast and to enhance their looseness.

Sometimes Burchard uses a wood bleaching process to lighten the wood or to remove all color. At other times he uses linen thread and telegraph wire to connect elements, like in the most recent series of vehicular forms.

These objects are an attempt to tell stories. They give glimpses of possibilities, act as metaphors, as transport for ideas, a little fantastic, a little odd. Some exist solely because they were a lot of fun to make. They are highly unlikely with a life of their own.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2007-09 "Craft in America: Expanding Craft Traditions," Arkansas Art Center - Palm Spring Art Museum
2006 ‘Wood Now” Craft Alliance, St.Louis, Mo ‘Woodturning on the Edge’ Unversity of Idaho, Pritchard Gallery, Moscow,ID ‘Our Turn Now’, Artists speak out in Wood, Ohio Crafts Museum, Columbus ,OH SOFA Chicago  and SOFA New York (00-06) ‘Turning Wood into Art’, Sarah
2005, “Nature Transformed”, Univ. of Michigan  Art Gallery, ”Artists Reflections,” WTC, Philadelphia,PA “Art Invitational” Great American Art Company, Tacoma, WA
2004, “Collect,” Victoria and Albert Museum, Sarah Meyercough Gallery, London, UK
2004, “Beneath the Bark: 25 Years of Woodturning,” Brigham Young University Museum of Art, Provo, UT
2003, “One Step Back, Two Steps Forward,” Patina Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2002,“Wild and Woolly, Tame and True: Relating to Wood,” Patina Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

COLLECTIONS

Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
LA County Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Woodturning Center Museum, Philadelphia, PA