Vessels by Andrew Burton
Vessels, the piece of Andrew Burton art at Newcastle University, raises questions about memory, recyclability and sustainability.
The sculpture
Vessels is by Professor Andrew Burton, a leading visual artist with an international reputation for his work in ceramics.
Vessels was originally made for an outdoor sculpture exhibition on Bondi Beach in Sydney, before moving on to Barcelona. The work can now be seen in the courtyard in front of Merz Court.
Vessels and Monuments by Andrew Burton is a collection of works made – and remade – from the same group of tiny, handmade, individually-fired bricks. Many of the bricks used to create Vessels have been used in Burtons earlier, temporary sculptures.
Scraps of paint, cement and glaze often remain on these broken-up bricks and – over time – they begin to convey a sense of history and memory of the earlier work, provoking questions about recycling and sustainability. This also expands Burton’s enquiry into juxtapositions of scale, relationships between interior and exterior form and the processes of making and un-making.
The artist
Burton’s artistic practice and research explores the creative intersection between sculpture, ceramics, architecture and craft.
His work has been presented nationally and internationally via:
- public exhibitions
- commissions
- illustrated lectures
- conference presentations
- publications
Burton’s artwork provides public audiences with the ability to experience unique artworks that embody and combine an articulation of fine art, craft sensibilities, methods and skills.
Andrew Burton has worked extensively in India, China and Africa, where he has collaborated with artists, artisans and traditional craft workers. The pieces born from these collaborations explore the territory between art, craft and quotidian objects and are characterised by the centrality of the human hand in the making process.
As well as working with fired and glazed ceramics, he has made work with unorthodox materials, including:
- chilli peppers
- bamboo
- clay
- cow dung
Burton enjoys exploring how these materials can work in combination with each other to create unique, innovative art.
