Christian Burchard

Christian Burchard Biography

Born in Hamburg, Germany in 1955, Christian has been living in the United States since 1978. Starting out as a furniture makers apprenticeship in Germany in the middle seventies, he studied sculpture and drawing at the Museum School in Boston and then at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver BC.

In 1982 he opened Cold Mountain Studio in Southern Oregon. His early focus was on furniture and interiors, but gradually shifted to woodturning and sculpture, moving between vessel-oriented forms and sculptural turning. His work has been included in most of the major turning-related exhibits of the last twenty-something years and is exhibited widely throughout the US. His pieces are part of many public and private collections. His current work includes wall sculptures and freestanding sculptural objects. He is also sought after as a teacher and demonstrator at craft schools, conferences, and related turning events. He currently resides with his wife on the outskirts of Ashland, Oregon.

Christian Burchard Description

Christian Burchard enjoys taking risks with his art and uses green, unpredictable wood to create forms that warp and twist as they dry. Burchard’s material of choice is Pacific madrone burl, which changes as it dries. This process makes his final form unique from other wood sculptures and nearly impossible to replicate.

“I have been working with wood for most of my life,” he explains. “We are comfortable with each other. We have a close relationship and I value the connection immensely.” Curious about what is inside, Burchard is often awed by the beauty of wood and the story of its history. “I delight in pattern, in repetition,” he continues, “The unexpected movements, the textures, the wonderful unpredictability of this wood gives me the opportunity to create structures and objects in a dialog with my chosen material.”

Burchard’s sculpture, Laocoön and His Sons, refers to the famous ancient sculpture that was excavated in Rome in 1506 and put on public display at the Vatican. The sculpture depicts the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus being attacked by sea serpents. The swirling wood forms of Burchard’s work replicate the intertwined sea creatures.

Born in Hamburg, Germany in 1955, Burchard has been living in the United States since 1978. Starting out as a furniture makers apprentice in Germany in the middle seventies, he studied sculpture and drawing at the Museum School in Boston then at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver BC.

Christian Burchard Statement

My conceptual framework is very closely connected to my chosen medium, wood, specifically Pacific Madrone (Arbutus Menziensii).

I basically create rather simple forms in green (unseasoned) madrone. As the moisture evaporates, the forms go through some subtle and not so subtle changes. Some are predictable, some are not.

Over the years I have studied this particular wood species, which is indigenous to the Pacific Northwest. It has a rather unique cell structure. I utilize wood from the entire tree, from roots to burls, trunk and branches of the tree. Each part of the tree had a different function and so it has different grain structure, resulting in a different movement.

As I am slicing or turning my wood very thin, the resulting forms are a depiction of the inner life of the tree, either in round or in flat form. The thinner I work the wood, the more it can move/change, but it also gets more fragile. Ihad to learn to listen, to watch and be quiet and let the material have it’s say.