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‘Sisters’ exhibit to open at Cornerstone

 

Renowned figurative ceramic sculptors, and sisters, Jane Burton and Tyler Burton will debut their first collaborative exhibition titled “Sisters” on Saturday, Jan. 26, at A New Leaf Gallery/ Sculpturesite located at Cornerstone in Sonoma.  A reception for the artists will be held on Sunday, Jan. 27, from 2 to 5 p.m. in the gallery. 

  The show will remain at A New Leaf Gallery/Sculpturesite until April.

  Working in collaboration for the first time, the Burton sisters have created an installation titled “Selective Memory,” comprised of more than 1,200 hanging white porcelain rocks layered over scores of ancestral faces. The three-dimensional piece reflects on family ties, perceived family memories, as well as a realization that we are all a fragment of a larger whole. Both artists’ works are significantly influenced by the countless patterns, textures and colors of nature and reveal their reverence for the power and quietude found there.  In addition to the one major collaborative piece, both artists will exhibit several solo works.

  “We have always talked about doing some kind of suspended work, and porcelain rocks are a natural for us since we both work in clay and love to collect rocks,” said Jane Burton. “We created each piece and feel like we imbued our DNA, a common gene, on each rock. Our original intention was to create a hanging figure within the rocks, but as it progressed, we loved the simplicity of a suspended box.”

  Jane Burton graduated from UC Davis in the early ’70s with a BFA, continued on with graduate school and a career in graphic design. It was 20 years later that her passion for ceramics and pit firing ignited, inspired by a trip to Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, N.M., where she took a Native American pottery class. Jane Burton is currently creating large ceramic sculptures ranging in height from 2- to 20-feet, and exploring the relationships between vessels and the energy they contain.

  The concept of Tyler Burton’s recent work is about belief systems and how they affect all of us.  “Our lives are constantly regulated by belief systems ingrained in us since birth or imposed on us by the societies in which we live,” said Tyler Burton, “and our whole existence is built upon what we believe.”

  Her current series, titled, “Bound by Beliefs,” looks at how cultures throughout the world are bound and limited by beliefs passed down through tradition. Using clay and wood as primary materials, Tyler adds binding metals to express the concept.  In her haunting work “A Thousand Reasons,” hundreds of copper nails pounded into the wood express hundreds of beliefs.

Cornerstone is located at 23570 Arnold Drive, Sonoma.