This fall WNIJ’s Yvonne Boose is doing an Art Crawl by tagging along with a few northern Illinois artists. Her last stop was a trip to Rockford’s Burpee Museum of Natural History to hang out with mosaic artist Susan Burton.
Burton lives in Marseilles, Illinois but on a crisp fall day, she made her way to Rockford.
YB: So where are we going now?
“We're going out to what's going to be the nature nook, and you should come back and interview them on this,” Burton suggested. “There's going to be, they just put this fountain in. There's going to be all kinds of landscaping, and there's going to be a piece of stained glass here. And they've got a turtle out here. They've got monarch butterfly net area for the Monarch Festival today.”
Burton has a degree in interior design with minors in art and architecture. She worked in interior design in Chicago. At 29 she went back home and started to build her family. She said she started doing stained glass work and one day she ventured into mosaic art.
“I just didn't learn this locally or going to school," she said. "I had to seek out other mosaic artists and take classes from people all over the world through the Society of American Mosaic Artists. So, it's something that's kind of funny. We had to kind of fight for a while to be considered a true art form.”
We spent time in the nature nook so that Burton could finish putting the finishing touches on a butterfly bench. The structure will be dedicated to Molly Phalen. Phalen was an educator who fought to improve working conditions for teachers. Burton sat comfortably on the ground as she smoothed materials around a replica of something that was dear to Phalen.
“This was Molly Phelan's little dog Lady," she explained. "So, we decided to put her on as an afterthought of the piece.”
Burton works on many projects. One of them is a summer program called "SPARK!" Works from this August are also being revealed in addition to the Monarch Festival.
A giant mosaic butterfly was splattered against brick inside the nook and outside of the museum next to the street sat a mosaic cicada. Burton said although projects are created in summer, the installation happens in the fall.
“I take all the art back to for Rockford, for the Rockford Area Arts Council, all the work back to my studio in Marseilles," she said. "And what I do is I kind of tweak it and fix it, and, you know, because the kids are learning how to grout, and they make mistakes, and we make it all pretty and bring it back and install it, and give the kids total credit, because they deserve it.”
Burton said installations can be tricky because fall weather is not consistent. Sometimes it’s too cold, especially for a November installation.
Burton said fall is her favorite season because she gets a break. It’s normally the time she thinks about the next year’s projects.
“Because I have to gather materials, get agreements done with people that are hiring me and commissioning me," Burton added, "And, you know, figure out my studio space. I have like, four different studios at home, depending on the size of the sculpture I'm doing. And this was difficult because we had three main [art pieces], actually four, if you didn't see the small cicadas inside.”
Burton has helpers. Her husband Rich Burton is one of them. He works behind the scenes.
“We're just different people, and she's the artist and I'm just the assistant," he said. "Oh, you're the assistant," I said, laughing. "I said you were standing over her like the supervisor." "No, no," he replied, "she doesn't need much supervision.”
Melena Traverzo, 18, is Burton’s apprentice. She’s taken part of the SPARK! program for three years. She said her grandmother worked with stained glass and that is what made her interested in mosaics. She said Burton noticed her work and solicited her to help with the summer project.
“But we just kind of walked around and we had our own separate groups this year," she said, "and the first week was just figuring out who meshed well with who and who could handle which kids the best and basic individual projects, helping out with those planning the whole process.”
Traverzo said every child worked on the giant cicada, but they also had individual projects.
“And the interns and the staff— if we wanted to do one, we were told we had to do them on our own time," Traverzo said. "And I decided I wanted to make a peacock spider because I wanted to do a spider, but I wasn't sure. And one of the sample pieces that they had as an example was like a foam carved peacock spider.”
Burton’s grandson Alex was there helping his grandmother. He said the peacock idea came from the bird at Burton’s Art Farm.
“So, his name's Waldo," shared Alex. "He has, like, a tree above the trampoline that I jump on. And my grandma has a friend named Liz that helps her with art and like, she gives Waldo stuff before she leaves, like right before the end of the day. See, before she leaves, she gives Waldo some snacks, like a banana.”
Burton said the art farm started after she decided not to sell her wares in a booth. She said they have 10 acres, and she decided to make it a place where people could come and do art. The farm has goats, a donkey, and pigs.
"And, you know, it's kind of fun for people to see animals now. Through the suffragist sculpture, I had a lot of people [that] came up and worked on it on the Art Farm. And we had a litter of baby pigs, and we saved the runt, and everybody fit, put tutus on her and pajamas.”
Pam Schallhorn has been friends with Burton for 32 years. She shows off an Egyptian-based stained-glass necklace that Burton created for her.
“What I really admire about what she does," she said, "not only is she a great artist, but she incorporates the children into this, the young artists into this, the community into this. She's not just an artist that goes off in the desert and does her thing. She is just so into bringing more people into art.”
April Bieschke is the director of education and growth at the museum. She said Burton's work is amazing.
"She is an absolute treasure for our community," she said. "And to be able to have some of her art here at Burpee, and then to have the art that the kids worked on as well, is just — it's perfect."
Burton dug in and out of her art toolbox as she put the finishing pieces on Phalen’s dog replica. She said the bench is fun because it leads into her passion project.
“I call it my tribal piece," she explained. "My husband and I have done a little bit of gemstone mining, and I want to do that piece. It's, it's a large cone. It's about six foot tall, and I had sculpted all these little tribal women and put them around the bottom of it.”
The dedication for the bench will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday Nov. 2.
