Sarah Burwash has been visiting rural communities and remote areas to attend artist residencies, travelling to different cities for art and craft sales, volunteering on farms and working at lodges in the Rocky Mountains.
The Far Woods is a collection of watercolours and other works the Rossland native produced during these residencies and travels.
These drawings celebrate the wilderness, rural lifestyles and resourcefulness. Burwash turns to past generations who, by necessity, had to be self-sufficient and create systems of mutual dependence among community members.
Burwash has been researching and immersing herself in environments where she can learn the stories, skills and gain the experience and perspective from earlier generations to create narratives that uproot her own personal mythologies.
She seeks to uncover both humble and provocative histories, more specifically those of women who were brazen and persistent in forging for a new social order. She creates characters, environments and narratives that are lyrical yet quiet, like frozen moments from dreams or nightmares.
Her work seeks the threads that connect the past and present, weaving imagery that urges people to wander through the drawings, discovering more upon each view and unfolding questions about our relationships to land, nature, spirituality and community.
Burwash grew up in Rossland. She graduated from the University of British Columbia Okanagan in 2009.
Working in a variety of media, from drawing and collage to video and installation, Burwash’s work most often takes form in narrative watercolour drawings.
She has participated in residencies in British Columbia, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Colorado, the Yukon and Michigan.
Burwash recently had a solo exhibition at the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts and completed her first animation through The Centre for Art Tapes Media Arts Scholarship program.
She currently resides in Halifax, NS, working full time as an artist and freelance illustrator.
Her book is available through http://www.conundrumpress.com/new-titles/the-far-woods/.
