Christian Burchard

phone: 541 -941 -6629
website: burchardstudio.com

I have been working with wood for most of my life. We are comfortable with each other, have a close relationship and I value the connection immensely. I am curious about what is inside, how it works. I am always looking for the gifts it has to offer. At times I am awed by its beauty and the story of its history, the tracks that the passing of time has left. I am driven to expose this beauty, to make it shine. At other times I am more fascinated with its inner structure, its more subtle form, and spirit.

To be working this closely with nature is a blessing, but also often overwhelming. It is a struggle. At times I find myself needing to put my foot down, to control the outcome of my work, only to find that I trampled something beautiful. At other times I feel overwhelmed, scared: what is needed of me here, how can I match the beauty of this living thing? How am I to know when to be loud and when to be quiet? Maybe this stuff just matches my personality, something to wrestle with, something that stirs my imagination, something to control. That nature versus manmade thing, that struggle, that tension, that conflict.

My work is about my relationship with nature, my desire to connect with it on a deep level. Trying to get under its skin and be part of it. Searching, finding something sacred, adding my touch, wrestling with it. Showing the beauty of it under a different light: exposing, transforming. I make things out of a deep urge to create and out of a driving curiosity. 

(Please note that in this Virtual Show, all purchases, insurance, and shipping arrangements are handled directly with the artist.)

With Butterfly Wings
35″x28″x7″ Bleached Madrone Burl, Photo Rob Jaffe, $5400
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White Book
9″x10”x6”, Bleached Madrone Burl, $2500
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Front view of White Book

In The Current #3. Collaboration with Christy Kún. Handmade Felt, Madrone, 7″ x 8″ x 4.5″, $1200.
A single piece of handmade felt mounted inside a Madrone shell. Table sculpture with multiple orientations.

Standing at the Crossroads #5, Bleached Madrone 24″ x14″ x6”, $3500.

“Another Literary Dynasty #14″,   18” x 18” x 26”, Bleached and scorched Madrone Burl 2015, $9200.