Wet Landscapes and Black Butter

The artworks of Barbara Burns

Barbara Burns: Banaberg (Red Gap) IV

We have no prairies

To slice a big sun at the evening—

Everywhere the eye concedes to

Encroaching horizon…..

Bogland, a poem by Seamus Heaney, 1969, from the collection Door into the Dark.

Seamus Heaney's poems use the bog as a source of powerful imagery that connects the past and present, and as a symbol for Irish history. He coins the bog as 'black butter' and uses it as a metaphor to mark history and memory. Given that the bog preserves, conceals, and eventually reveals the past.

Like Seamus, Barbara Burns incorporates the Irish landscape in her artworks. She is compelled to return to her roots on the West Coast of Ireland. Whether walking along the coastline or through the countryside, she absorbs the surroundings and constantly explores the relationship between land and sea, from craggy cliffs to soft, rolling landscapes. Rock next to soft earthy mounds, deep regular furrows on ploughed land to the sharp edges of cut bog. Peatlands/bogs are wetlands that are critical for supporting a variety of species and biodiversity. They improve water quality, reduce floods and create a defence.

Barbara Burns: Banaderg (Red Gap) II

Rich inspiration is drawn from peatland and bogs. Barbara's work reflects this in its dark layers and a sense of buried history.  She is fascinated by the difference between the commercial production of briquettes (used for household burning as fuel) and those excavated by landowners and locals, who are still allowed to dig for them for personal use. The commercial companies have now stopped production due to environmental concerns about the impact on the landscape.

Barbara brings back to her studio examples of bog to document and use as references for her work, in addition to collecting information, visual memories, photographs, and sometimes sketching as she goes.

She says:

I reflect the layers created within these objects, somehow recreating that on the canvas, taking into account colour and composition.

Barbara Burns: Banaderg (Red Gap) III

Immersing herself in the paintings that come together in the studio - in a series of work from what memories allow -  she works with strong intuitive marks, responding to the painting process taking place on the canvas.

She always paints in oils with glazes that allow her to build the painting over several months, the story coming together in a process that evolves, selecting and eliminating forms and texture, until the final image presents itself, often using a long-established colour palette. The time taken to paint and the drying times required are a nod to the bog that forms at an incredibly slow rate.