Karl Burkheimer, In Situ

In Situ, an 1,800 sqaure foot sculptural installation, is a continuation of Burkheimer's In Site, created for Disjecta Contemporary Art Center in Portland, OR in 2011. In Situ acknowledges and disrupts the ground plane, allowing attention to the natural (and man-made) grading of the site as it slopes nearly twelve feet from Denny to John Streets. The sophisticated design of the sculpture's under-bracing is made visible, while sheathing is left expressed in the materials off-the-shelf 4' x 8' sizing. This meeting of fine craft and functional essentialism is at the heart of Burkheimer's practice. Says the artist:

My aim is to develop work worthy of exploration and consideration: familiar yet distant, crafted yet curious, expressive yet grounded. Intrigued with ambiguity I am particularly attracted to the space, real or imagined, between the object-of-utility and the image-of-contemplation, challenging myself to create work that addresses explicit functions without adhering to doctrines of performance. The parts and pieces as well as the materials and processes that embody my work convey a language of labor and skill that evoke precedent and reveal intent.

The artist is additionally supported with Career Opportunity Funds from the Oregon Arts Commission and the Ford Family Foundation.

Karl Burkheimer is an Associate Professor and Department Chair of the MFA in Craft program at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, Oregon. He earned an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture from North Carolina State University. Prior to joining the faculty at OCAC, Karl taught design at Virginia Commonwealth University's branch campus in Qatar.

Burkheimer has most recently received several awards of recognition, including a 2012 Individual Artist Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission and a 2013 U.S.-Japan Creative Artist Fellowship. He was also named the Portland Art Museum's 2013 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards finalist, one of five in the Pacific Northwest region. His work has been exhibited nationally, including recent exhibitions at the Portland Art Museum, Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, OR and the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, PA.