Laura Burke: Drawing Her Own Reality

New York-based artist Laura Burke works in a vibrant, ornate world, comprised of colorful flowers, fruits, pottery and other objects that symbolize different memories and scenes throughout her life. We visited her her studio in Brooklyn, where her collage-like drawings line the walls. “It’s the colored pencil... magic,” She explained as we leaned in for a closer look to understand how she achieves such depth and texture in her work.

Photography by Lauren Daccache.

Each one of Laura’s pieces is satisfying and soothing. “I use my drawings to communicate warm feelings, at least that’s my intention, so what inspires me also has to give me warm feelings.” she describes. She finds inspiration in art history and museum visits, but it’s really all about color. “I’m always inspired by color. Sometimes the shapes and objects I draw are just conduits for a color. I always come back to flowers, fruit, and vases because they’re fantastic vessels for color in reality, and they represent something familiar and intimate.”
We caught up with Laura about what she’s been working on since her cross-country move from Portland to New York just two years ago, especially since so much has changed in this year of lockdown. “I feel like I’ve been able to dig into things a lot more. Also, this is the first time I’ve been making art not on a desk... I have all of this space. I don’t feel rushed anymore – I can take my time on pieces.”

The artist’s demeanor matches her work – cool, calm and collected. Below, she shares more about her start as an artist, her background as a printmaker, and more.

Lauren Youngblood: When did you start creating?
Laura Burke: I first started drawing when everyone else did, in preschool because we had to. I remember feeling like it was something I could be good at when I was five.

LY: So you always thought you would be an artist?
LB: I did! Maybe because it felt like the only thing I was good at. That was the initial (admittedly depressing) origin for wanting to be an artist. I wanted to be an artist at five, and I kept with that mindset.

LY: What has your path to becoming an artist been like?
LB: The road to being an artist has been a lot of service industry, shop girl-ing, and production jobs. I worked at an Italian restaurant in the suburbs my entire college career, from junior college to Pacific Northwest College of Art. On Mondays I was the only server, and would work from 10am-10pm then take the bus from Tigard to southeast Portland. The hardest part was deciding that there was literally nothing else I could do but make art. I don’t know how to make a spread sheet, open adobe, and I’m a terrible server, so I was going to have to figure out how to make this work.

The highlight has been working when I’m excited to, and resting when I’m tired. Making work has been squeezed into the rest of my life, now I’m able to organize my life around art. That freedom has propelled my work forward in a way that I think could have only come from complete concentration.

LY: Tell us about your studio space... what do you need in your studio to get in the flow of making — whether music, natural light, specific items?
LB: I like to work in concentrated bursts, often. Three hours of honed in drawing has proven to be my sweet spot. I’ll even set a timer. I get to the studio, eat a snack, choose a podcast, and either clip a new piece of paper to the wall or continue on one I already started. Finding the flow of a piece I already started is much easier, I usually hate a drawing from the moment I start it until I’m halfway through. I like to draw standing up with a pile of pencils to my right.

LY: What’s the best part about working alongside other creatives?
LB: I’m fortunate that my boyfriend is also an artist, but using a different medium, in a different studio. We regularly show in progress photos to one another and give kind suggestions. It’s helpful to be surrounded by people with similar rhythms. I don’t have many friends who work in the same medium or content, but I’m lucky to have people around me that create something - whether that's clothes or poems, they put something into the world that wasn't there before.

LY: How does your background in printmaking inform your work?
LB: Studying print, and then working in print for years afterward, helped me to be thoughtful in my compositions. I had a teacher, Yoshi Kitai, in my undergrad that wouldn’t allow a print without a “why” behind every decision. The color, subject matter, placement, choice of print medium, had to be considered. With so many different processes, it’s easy to force an image into a process that would be a better fit elsewhere. I learned to connect an image not just with basic principles of balance, but with mediums. I was his TA for three years after I graduated, and I probably learned more from that experience than my actual undergrad. All to then decide printmaking wasn’t my jam.

LY: What advice would you give other creatives who are still finding confidence in their craft, or are thinking about becoming full time artists but haven't yet?
LB: I think the best advice I could give is embrace your limitations. It’s easy in art to dwell on what you can’t make, or aren’t capable of. I wanted so badly to be the best draftsperson, which I’m simply not. I can’t make a photorealistic drawing, and instead of pivoting around that I obsessed and kept trying for years. If I had just allowed myself to explore elsewhere, I might have found my passion a little sooner. It’s a skill worth honing to move on and explore without giving up.

LY: Onwards and upwards! What’s next for you? What are you most excited about right now?

LB: I’m excited about the little things... moving into a bigger studio, using even better materials. I’m not one to plan very far in advance. I’m a go with the wind kind of gal.