About

INSPIRATION
I grew up in Wales, where the country lanes were lined with brilliant green nettles, fiddlehead ferns, and endless brambles populated with snails. When I moved to Vancouver Island, that world was smooth rocks, more ferns, and trilliums. Moving again to Marin County, near San Francisco, Queen Anne’s lace, variegated echium, and golden California poppies surrounded the winding trails. The smallest details in each place made the memories that shape the images I cut. Detail and materials hold great importance in both the objects and experiences I surround myself with and the work I produce.

PROCESS
I find that something intriguing and original happens when I cut into paper to create forms and images, treating the negative space as an element of the overall language. To me, the simple relationship between positive and negative forms expresses my vision and thinking.

I find that, despite working with a single colour and layer, a dimensional, colourful world emerges, only one where the viewer becomes the participant in each work’s completion. By leaving out elements, we are invited to fill in what we expect to see and feel, and our imagination becomes more active.

CURRENT WORK
‘Pressed’ explores the contrasting strength, fragility and elegance of nature. Much of the work for this series contains image of bees to embody how humanity depends on this animal that may be at the edge of extinction. As a beekeeper, the more I learn and spend time with these creatures, the more my affection and respect for them grows, as does an awareness of our symbiotic relationship. Several of my pieces express just how a world without the bees would leave the planet empty. I try to capture this through the paper : though remarkably resilient, the real art of the balance lies in what we decide not to cut away.

Sara Burgess - Design Portfolio