danielle burns

artist statement:

A child playing with matches is forgivable. Kids are curious. They want to explore adult activities through play. Does it stay innocent when that child experiments with the effects of firecrackers in frogs and gasoline on animals? What happens when they light the match? Children mirror adult behavior, sponging up and ringing out what they see. A child physically playing out what she has been exposed to may be perverse and curious at the same time. There is a grey area between childhood innocence and a realization of wrong that intrigues me. This period of transition can certainly become more complex when a child becomes audience to adult subjects earlier than usual. My recent work raises questions of how childhood naiveté can be manipulated and asks what innocence means when it can be shaped and taken.

My focus is on children in rural environments acting out in mischievous and deviant ways not normally associated with youthful innocence. Children experiment and act out across all social classes and geographical areas. My emphasis, however, is on a particular group of children who are based on delinquents I knew, allowing me to speak through this setting more naturally. The characters should not be seen as victimized innocents for whom to place blame, but as vehicles to express this strange time and transition in everyone’s childhood.

education

2009-2012Master of Fine Arts, Printmaking, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
2005-2009 Bachelor of Fine Art¬s, Painting, minors in Printmaking and Art History, Middle
State University, Murfreesboro, TN
Bachelor of Science, Art Education, Middle Tennessee State University, z
Murfreesboro, TN.
2002-2005 Associate of Science, Motlow State Community College, Tullahoma, TN

career related experience

2011-2012Instructor of Record, Introduction to Printmaking, Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, LA
2011-2012 Print Shop Monitor, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA.
2010Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Printmaking, Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, LA
2009-2010Web Design and Data Entry, School of Renewable Natural Resources, LSU
AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA
2008-2009Student Teacher of Art, West Middle School, Tullahoma, TN
Student Teacher of Art, Westwood Elementary School, Manchester, TN
2007-2008 Instructor and Coordinator, Art & Photo Camps, Fayetteville Arts Center,
Fayetteville, TN

solo exhibitions

2012 Up Like Weeds, MFA Thesis Exhibition, LSU School of Art Glassell Gallery,
Shaw Center for the Arts, Baton Rouge, LA
2009Eoff Hall Art Gallery, Motlow State Community College, Tullahoma, TN

group exhibitions

2012 Southern Graphics International Conference: Open table, New Orleans, LA
Southern Graphics International Conference: Portfolio Exchange
New Orleans, LA
2011 Lagniappe 7, Exchange Portfolio. Rebecca Kreisler and May Babcock, organizers,
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 2010
Broadcast No.5, Mars Hill, Baton Rouge, LA
Habitat for Humanity Recycled Art Auction, Arts Council Community Gallery,
Baton Rouge, LA.
Global Exchange: An Exchange Exhibition of Contemporary
Prints from the Kyoto Seika University (Japan) Foster Gallery,
Louisiana State University. Baton Rouge, LA
2009 Habitat for Humanity Recycled Art Auction, Arts Council Community Gallery,
Baton Rouge, LA
New Edition: College Printmakers, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN
Student Exhibition 2009, Cummins Station: Student Art Program, Nashville, TN
2008 Strata: Studio Art Senior Show, The Gallery at Todd Hall, Middle Tennessee State
University, Murfreesboro, TN
The Black Light Show, Printer’s Proof Artist Group Show, Murfreesboro, TN
SAA Juried Show, The Gallery at Todd Hall, Middle Tennessee State University,
Murfreesboro, TN
Elemental: Works on Paper Invitational, Herberger College of the Arts, Arizona
State University, Phoenix, AZ
SAA Juried Show, The Gallery at Todd Hall, Middle Tennessee State University,
Murfreesboro, TN
Surrealist’s Ball, Dunaway’s Grocery, Murfreesboro, TN
2007SAA Juried Show, The Gallery at Todd Hall, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN Benefit for Royce, The Gallery at Todd Hall, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN Student Art Alliance Sale, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TNStarbucks Group Show, Keatherly University Center, Murfreesboro, TN

awards

2011-2012Graduate Assistantship and Tuition Waiver, School of Art and Design, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
2009-2011Graduate Assistantship and Tuition Waiver, School of Renewable Natural Resources, LSU AgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA
2008Charles W. and Ola Belle Massey Memorial Art Scholarship, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN
Honorable Mention, SAA Juried Show, The Gallery at Todd, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN
2007Best in Show, SAA Juried Show, The Gallery at Todd, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN Enrichment Scholarship, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN
2006Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN Enrichment Scholarship, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN
2002-2005Dean’s List, Motlow State Community College, Tullahoma, TN

publications and professional affiliations

2011-2012 Southern Graphics International: Member
2008-2009NEA: National Education Association, Member
NAEA: National Art Education Association, Member
2008 Collage: A Journal of Creative Expression, Fall 2008 edition, Murfreesboro, TN Distillery: 2008, A Motlow State Community College Publication: Tullahoma, TN

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