Mira Burack: from the bed to the mountain

May 2 - June 5, 2015
Opening reception & plant hydrosol encounter: Saturday, May 2, 5-7pm
Opening event, RSVP required: Self-Care as Activism, Saturday, May 2, 2-4pm

Mira Burack is an artist living in the mountains of New Mexico. She received her Master of Fine Arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art and Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art and Psychology from Pepperdine University. Burack was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up on the coast of Maine. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Muskegon Museum of Art, Cranbrook Art Museum, Media Knox Gallery in Slovenia, Art Gallery of Windsor in Canada, and Kunstverein Wolfsburg in Germany. She has lectured, taught workshops, and served as faculty at the College for Creative Studies. She received a Community + Public Arts: DETROIT grant for The Edible Hut, a community space with a living edible roof. Recently relocated to rural New Mexico after living in Detroit for 10 years, Burack spends her time learning from this new landscape, making, and enjoying her family.  

Artist Statement
My work investigates everyday matter, seeking out an embedded material language that exists between our bodies, our possessions, and our environment. In creating spaces, making intricate photo collages, soft sculptures, and installations, I draw connections between the material and the immaterial, the visceral and the technological, two dimensions and three dimensions, and ultimately, the conscious and unconscious. 

While making, I explore the physical qualities and historical properties of the materials. The human history of textiles and the illusionary nature of painting influence my way of working. Methods of documenting, multiplying, extracting, cutting, connecting, layering, and arranging are used to resuscitate the material, bringing us closer to it again with new perspective.

I am engaged by the living sculptures in our daily lives—plants, animals, people, and the interior and exterior spaces around us. I am interested in how they teach us, activate our senses, and provide us with intimacy, comfort, rest, and pleasure. 

View CATALOGUE

Full catalogue essay: Collage and the Landscape of Familiarity by John McKissick

Photography by Eric Swanson.