E.B. Burgman AT GROUNDSWELL GALLERY AT FORT SUTTER HOTEL

June 2023 - september 2023

“My work is like looking into a mirror with your eyes closed. There is an imagined reflection that begins inward. My own specific understandings connect with the universal understandings because each one of us can experience pain. The unexpected loss of my father as I transitioned into adulthood has generated many intense and confusing emotions. I am better able to understand these emotions while I work to translate them into visual narratives. I explore the idea of how trauma affects both the physiological as well as the psychological. There is often an element of time within the work that speaks to the healing process, to growth and to change.  There is your reality before a great loss and your reality after. I blend cliche ideas with imagery that combine the idea of emotion with the physicality of the body or referencing the body. I use the juxtaposition of mixed media and found objects arranged with raw materials to create the mood I want to express and generate an unspoken conversation with the viewer.

I work to parallel the healing process in myself with my work. I constantly analyze how I can create a visual feeling to translate emotion through the work. This occurs by tapping into a sense of sentimentality or nostalgia by collecting items to incorporate and trigger these feelings. I don't search for items specifically for each sculpture, I stumble upon items that strike me as important in the moment that I come across them. I collect these found objects that intrigue me in some way. I aim to infer a narrative with my process. It isn't until later that these items become relevant to the piece and what I want to express through the work. They fit together in my subconscious and then come together as intuitive revelations in the studio.

There is always a bit of a wound that I inflict on my work. Often times it is very subtle, just as my own wounds are hidden beneath the surface. It is a way to reflect myself in each piece that I make. It is the imagined scar unseen. The idea of transformation is important not only with the material in my work but concept as well. There is often a repetitive and meditative aspect to my process. To transform psychologically is tenuous and secretive and more momentous a task than to transform physically, and yet, they both leave scars.” ~EB

Fort Sutter Hotel is located at 1308 28th Street in Sacramento, CA.

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