Press release:
The Black Mountain Center for the Arts is proud to welcome artist Julia Burr to the Upper Gallery with an opening reception for “Orchestration” on April 7 at 6pm. The show runs through May 12 and is free to the public Monday through Friday 10-5pm.
This will be Burr’s 4th show at the Arts Center over the past 15 years. Her evocative work challenges viewers with its power, simplicity, intricate attention to detail and humor, illustrating core emotions of yearning, love, celebration, freedom and loss. This work has evolved from wood and steel kinetic abstractions, to gestural steel figurative work, to a small-scale installation that used the gallery floor to create a “stream” surrounded by her mixed media figures that incorporate everyday objects with natural elements.
“Orchestration” expands on her last installation with a full immersion into Burr’s world. The artist hopes to surround the observer with the natural world and the lessons it has to teach us about death and the dying process. Imbedded and protruding from an organic “nest,” dozens of amalgamated mixed-media pieces tell the story of the journey, the orchestration that comes from participating in the dying process. In many cases, she has combined parts of musical instruments with natural elements to create her environment for the show. Music also contributes to the environment; Burr collaborated with local composer and recording artist Zach Cooper in the production and composition of the sound component of the installation. Part of the pre-recorded elements comes from local chamber music ensemble Pan Harmonia.
Burr was recently selected to create the first piece of public artwork for the Black Mountain Greenway. That work has been installed on the Greenway behind the Bi-Lo. She has been sculpting for a living for close to 40 years. The first part of her career was spent in Hollywood doing props and special effects for movies, TV and commercials. Since moving to Black Mountain almost 20 years ago she has focused on her fine art, working daily from her studio on her property. She has several public art works throughout the south, from Veterans Park in Fayetteville to an historic Roanoke, Virginia neighborhood and iconic works in Pack Square and on the Urban Trail in Asheville.
This show is sponsored by Parker Legwear.
The Black Mountain Center for the Arts is located at 225 W. State Street. For more information about the artist’s reception for Orchestration call 828.669.0930 or visit BlackMountainArts.org
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