Research and Practice:

Molly Jo Burke, b. 1984, is a Cincinnati, Ohio based artist, educator, and researcher. Burke received a BFA (2006) from Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD), and her MFA (2009), and PhD (2024) from The Ohio State University (OSU). She has taught at OSU, CCAD, and The Studio at Corning Museum of Glass. Her work has been featured most recently at Toledo Museum of Art, Columbus Museum of Art, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France.

 

Burke creates artwork examining details of our environment and repetition of forms throughout various ecosystems using traditional and non-traditional materials. Forms are inspired by cells, plants, coral, and the architecture created by living organisms. Her use of materials and how artworks are displayed reflects on humanity's interactions with nature - sometimes beautiful but often destructive and precarious.

 

In 2016, Molly began collaborating with her husband and fellow artist Nathan Gorgen, their practice utilizes excess material from their respective processes and home life to create new artworks. A variety of coatings, such as plaster, wax, epoxy, and faux painting, also left over from other projects, are then applied to the artworks to either heighten or obscure their innate qualities.  This allows the artists to play with perceptions of a material’s purpose, quality and value, as waste remnants and the byproducts of their life are transformed through the process. Incorporating reflections on their lives lived together, themes of landscape, play, and architecture flow through the art works.