ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM | RAM TALKS ART | FREE EXHIBIT BY LOCAL PAINTER AT RAM ART ANNEX THROUGH APRIL 5

RAM Talks Art: Free exhibit by local painter at RAM Art Annex through Apr. 5

By Stacey Sauer, Education Coordinator, Rockford Art Museum

Rockford Art Museum's (RAM) Art Annex is more than a classroom; it also lends itself to the local art community and has created yet another outlet for emerging and established artists.

Since it opened its doors in 2007, there have been eight different shows in the Art Annex, showcasing a variety of local and regional artists, as well as participants from RAM's START (Senior Time for Art) Program. Danielle Lavetta Burbach, a local free-lance artist, is the newest addition to this list.

Burbach is fascinated by our participation in experiences such as yoga, meditation, and spiritual or mystical experiences, and how these experiences allow us as human beings to contemplate our worldview. She believes the process of creating something—whether it is a piece of art or simply cooking a meal—is a meditative state, and can alter our perceptions of the world around us. According to her artist statement, it is the sense of timelessness and the self-realization that comes from the creative process that helps us to express who we are and what we feel.

Burbach's work is a study on perception. “My paintings are grounded in my interest in the visual experience, the space between object and viewer where personal interpretation is dictated by the psychological experience of the eyes and the psychological perception of the mind,” she says. “It is our life experiences, and especially our mystical experiences, that shape how we see and interpret art.”

To emphasize this concept, Burbach creates compositions that rely on the use of pattern and color. She believes it is the repetition of these elements, as well as the balance of them, that draws the eye to her pieces and allows the viewer to feel peaceful and contemplative.

Instead of emphasizing material things in her art, Burbach instead focuses on abstract elements such as shape and color. She is intrigued by how our eyes see and interpret color, and she uses color to emulate reflected and refracted light. Her pieces remain ambiguous in their meaning. The concepts of time and space, evolution, and the universe as a whole are all explored.

Burbach's work ranges from optical to psychedelic to meditative. Although she works with a variety of media, including oil and acrylic paints, she says she prefers to work with watercolors because she is able to find unique ways to work with the medium, including different resists.

Danielle Lavetta Burbach: Post-Theistic Space-Time is on display through April 5 in the RAM Art Annex, inside Riverfront Museum Park, 711 N. Main St., Rockford. There will be an artist's reception from 5 to 8:30 p.m., Friday, April 3.

Contact RAM Education Coordinator Stacey Sauer at ssauer@rockfordartmuseum.org.

From the April 1-7, 2009 issue

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