Artist Mary Lynn Burke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU-mjMoQTiU

Mary Lynn Burke (Brzuchanski b. 1974, Detroit, MI) considers the relationship between humans and nature, as it relates to our mutual wellness and resilience. Burke earned a Master of Social Work from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. She attended the professional program at the New England School of Photography in Boston, Massachusetts.

Burke has participated in exhibitions at Mīharo Gallery, curated by Rosie Cruddas, Gisborne, New Zealand; Portland Art Gallery, curated by Emma Wilson, Maine; Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Massachusetts; Kathryn Schultz Gallery, curated by Mallory Ruymann, Leah Triplett and Mike Carroll, Cambridge, MA and CAA Canal Gallery, curated by Sherri Nienass, Cambridge, MA. In November 2024, Burke had her first 4-person exhibition with Portland Art Gallery, curated by Emma Wilson in Portland, Maine.

In 2027, she will have her first solo exhibition at Danforth Art Museum, curated by Jessica Roscio in Framingham, Massachusetts. Her work has been selected by juror Roxanne Smith, Jennifer Rubio Assistant Curator of the Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC for Greenwich Art Society Annual Members Fall 2025 Exhibit and by juror Sayantan Mukhopadhyay, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Portland Museum of Art for the 2025 National Prize Show, a Cambridge Art Association exhibition. Burke's work was selected by Shannon Rae Finkle, Director of The Middle Room Gallery (LA) and Institute For Visual Arts (LA) from a national pool of artists, for inclusion in "I Like Your Work" Fall exhibition catalog. She was chosen by Erika b Hess, artistic director of Chautauqua Institution, to be featured as a Studio Visit Artist for "I Like Your Work". Burke has work in private and corporate collections both nationally and internationally in places such as Boston, Stamford, Atlanta, San Jose, Sacramento, Maine, Cambridge, England, New Delhi, India and New Zealand. Burke currently lives and works in Lexington, Massachusetts.

"Working in oil, acrylic, cyanotype and pastel, I create large abstract paintings that consider the correlations between human and environmental resilience, diversity and adaptation. During my years abroad in New Zealand's rural landscapes, I began painting as a way to amplify the positive impact that engaging with nature had on my worldview and self-perception. My paintings aim to inspire a sense of belonging and empowerment within a broad community, reaching beyond the boundaries of my former practice as a clinical social worker. I instinctively develop vibrant, imagined scenes as visual metaphors, demonstrating the dualities of strength and fragility, power and vulnerability in both human and natural life. When beginning paintings using cyanotype, I incorporate shadows and sunlight from my own body and surroundings. Collaborating with nature, I respond to the rapid development of the cyanotype, adding color and marks, as light and elements shift around me. Using various brushes and edges of found objects, I create untamed lines, emotive brush strokes and organic shapes. Portraying nature as both our body and home, I examine the cultural, social, and personal conditions that shape our identity."

Tell us a little about yourself (where you are from) and your background in the arts.

I grew-up in a small town, an hour outside of Detroit, as the middle-child with two brothers. My childhood was filled with swimming, climbing trees and family camping trips in northern Michigan. When feeling insecure as a child, I discovered a sense of belonging and kinship with nature through time spent building forts for myself in the woods. Personal experiences during childhood and into adulthood led me to seek new methods of understanding and empowering myself in relationships. In Detroit, I studied and practiced clinical social work with children and families, as a way to support others. It wasn’t until I moved from Detroit to Boston, in 2004, that I found making photographs to be a tool to express myself.

This passion led to a pause from my career in social work to attend a professional photography program in Boston. After several years working as a commercial photographer, I became a Mother and the camera was happily turned towards our beautiful daughters. During these years, my interests in alternative methods to create and display photographs led to projects using large and medium format cameras, Polaroid lifts, encaustic photography, in-camera multiple-exposures.

Years living abroad in rural New Zealand coincided with our daughters becoming more independent. Creating photograph in solitude with nature, led to a pivotal series of saltwater cyanotypes and the beginning of my work with paint. I often use cyanotype in my paintings as a visceral way for me to enter into the memories and emotions I felt while developing cyanotypes in these wild landscapes. Alone at the sea, I felt a collaboration and return to my childhood sense of kinship with nature. When I allowed the wild events of nature to be the artist, I discovered the beauty found in chance and all that is out of our control. My work is a product of my gratitude for the gifts of nature and my need to return to this experience for continued internal mental wellness.

I would like my work to empower others to notice and take part in the ways nature can model and support resilience on our paths towards acceptance of self and mental wellness. As we view nature’s adaptation with all that is out of it's control, we may learn to similarly view ourselves without judgement, but rather, as beautiful beings managing change to thrive and grow. Painting is an act of rejoicing in one’s true spirit, for myself, my daughters, and those I’ve engaged with as a clinical social worker.

What kind of work are you currently making?

My current work oscillates between groups of work with thin layers and washes of cyanotype, acrylic, oil and pastel and groups of work using exclusively thickly layers of oil paint. I am drawn to the contrasts and push-pull nature of working within these extremes. I typically create work on paper, using pastels, gouache and oil, while sifting through thoughts and energy for my next series on canvas.

Currently, I have been thinking a lot about the way all of my work is a self portrait, regardless of its evidence of abstraction or recognizable forms. The wilderness of my identity and wish for each person to feel valuable and beautiful, comes through in all paintings and that openness excites me. I'm constantly considering new ways to inspire viewers to imagine and take notice of their connections to nature. I hope viewers of my work may feel a similar appreciation and value for themselves, as the awe they may feel for the beauty of nature.

What is a day like in the studio for you?

I wake each morning to write while watching the sunrise. After my daughters have left for school, I am able to follow my instincts to return to a painting and spend time outdoors. Running in the extremes in weather and listening to music is vital for my creativity.

Outside of certain aspects of parenting, I have never been interested in a routine. Rather, my interests of the moment guide how I use my time and energy. Once I am involved in a project, I am obsessively working, writing and thinking about it without pause until it is complete. Wishing for more hours in a day, I am often kept awake with the energy of dynamic projects and experiments with materials waiting to be developed.

What are you looking at right now and/or reading?

Watching my daughters enjoy all their activities and creativity brings me the most joy in life. I’m currently inspired and interested in the exciting work and themes being presented in Boston and New England, particularly those supporting and sharing work about the experiences and knowledge of Indigenous People and themes of belonging and identity, as it relates to cultural, social and personal dynamics.

I find that in this time of increasing global and national unrest, I am most drawn to be active in supporting our neighbors and arts organizations in local regions.

In addition to enjoying the local museums at Boston ICA (where I especially enjoyed the Stanley Whitney and Chiharu Shiota exhibitions and work by Henry Taylor) and Boston MFA (where I saw my very first works by some of my favorite artists: Helen Frankenthaler and Joan Mitchell), art in galleries in and around Boston at: 13 Forest, Drive-By-Projects, Gallery NAGA, LaiSun Keane, Anderson Yezerski Gallery, Ellen Miller Gallery, Lanoue Gallery and LaMontagne Gallery have provided ongoing inspiration. I have met incredible artists at: the mobile art space Burlington Micro Gallery, Kniznick Gallery, part of Brandeis University’s Women’s Studies Center, Boston Public Art Triennial and through Cambridge Art Association. One art fair, Arrival Art Fair and an exhibition that I still wish I could have attended is: Manoucher Yektai at Karma, Los Angeles.

Some absolute standout visits for me this summer were in Maine: Nicole Wittenberg's exhibition at CMCA, Ann Craven's exhibition at Farnsworth Art Museum and the culmination of artists whose work I really admire: Melanie Essex, Katherine Bradford and Anna Dibble. Another unforgettable exhibition was Karma's summer pop-up exhibition in Maine, "A Certain Form of Hell". This show still rings in my mind long after my visit, featuring work by so many of my current favorites: Kathryn Lynch, Ann Craven, Katherine Bradford, Cecily Brown, Marley Freeman, Louise Bourgeois, Emilie Stark-Menneg, Melanie Essex, Nicole Wittenberg, Maja Ruznic, Nancy Diamond, Andrew Cranston, Milton Avery, Xiao Jiang, Randy Wray, Mia Kokkoni, Reggie Burrows Hodges and Lois Dodd.

I am still thinking and learning from my visit at The Armory Art Fair this year and I often wish I could be instantly transported for a weekend in the NYC, LA and London art scenes. I have felt so inspired and grateful for the opportunity to collect artist books and catalogs from exhibitions I am unable to attend and for the time I've spent visiting exhibitions in Boston and Maine this year.

Right now, I am really looking forward to visiting: two exhibition at ICA Boston: the '2025 James and Audrey Foster Prize' and 'An Indigenous Present' organized by Jeffrey Gibson and Jenelle Porter, guest curators, with Erika Umali, Curator of Collections, and Max Gruber, Curatorial Assistant. Concord Center for the Visual Arts exhibition: 'Motherhood as Muse' Curated by Kathryn Geismar + Deborah Peeples

If it weren't for Boston Art Review, I would not be able to keep up-to-date with the exciting momentum in the Boston art scene!

Where can we find more of your work? (ex. website/insta/gallery/upcoming shows)

Website: www.marylynnburke.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mary.lynn.burke/