Siri Burt

Siri Burt has been a resident of New York City for seven years, during which, she has cultivated a practice delineated by a collaboration between mediums. Photography was Siri Burt’s first and primary artistic outlet, leading her to receive her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts in Photography and Video from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. While photography dominated her studies, gestures towards ceramics were always prominent in her life. Siri’s grandmother and aunt were both ceramicists, so it was not unnatural that during her time studying in Rome, Italy, that Roman Ceramic Arts and History captivated her attention. She found a new community of artists that welcomed her interest in ceramics. She returned to New York City with a newly kindled appreciation for a medium that had always been ever-present.

Her longstanding interest in photography pushes through its typically secular characteristics. Despite photography as a relatively recent accepted medium within fine arts, she explains that within the field there “seems to be a lack of encouragement to try things outside the photo world.” Whereas to her, the marriage of photography and ceramics was a means to “expand the artist’s mind,” a natural progression that was inspiring and exciting. The exhilarating energy of progressive artists who are able explore integrative practices within their art motivates and supports her own practice. She enjoys the new difficulties she has uncovered. The fragility and complexity only add to its precious qualities. 

 Her own work starts with hand to clay, after which, she incorporates a waterslide transfer of image decals comprising her interpretation of stories from the renaissance era to elicit a mosaic quality. The design objective is to manipulate a three dimensional experience onto a two dimensional medium, such as a photograph, and then reproduce it onto another three dimensional tactile object, such as a ceramic piece, which will transpose and retell the story. You can find Siri’s work displayed in galleries across New York, however, she would like her pieces to take on a more public arena. She believes the physical environment has the ability to alter your psyche and the objects around you should yield feelings of joy. Her work in the public space is an ode to the church’s significance during the renaissance period and its interiors from which she borrows from. Siri will soon be moving to Scotland to simultaneously attend the University of Edinburgh to receive her Masters of Arts in Contemporary Art Practice and run through the Scottish rolling hills. There, she will continue to create with little recognition of boundaries.

Written by Summer Wong

3/28/2023