From the artist:

Throughout my career I have created sculpture that reflects my environment and my interest in vernacular architecture. While in graduate school I gathered materials from deconstruction sites and scrap yards combined with cement and clay to create three permanent public sculptures and numerous temporary installations. Since moving to a rural area in western Maryland I have become immersed in the natural environment in a very personal way. This has led to an intense awareness of the potential use of everything that grows, dies, and decays on the land. Using pond algae, seedpods, water hyacinth roots, reeds, vegetable roots, thorn bushes, lunaria and other natural material I have created a series of plant/animal hybrids. There is an endless supply of materials around me.

Glimpses of animals camouflaged by trees and brush, bones and skins of dead animals, observing their trails, the nest and migrations of birds, insect casing, growing and harvesting pond materials, have all had a profound affect on my work. The intimate world of insects and animals has an intrigue and mystery leaving behind only traces of their presence.

Articulating my response to the environment has widened my choice of materials. The ephemeral nature of paper, susceptible to destruction yet string and flexible, corresponds to the transformative nature of all natural materials. Exploring the potential of this material has resulted in a new body of work. Working with a palm fiber called piacava, I have embedded it inside the paper pulp adding color, stains and seed pods to the form a series of forms again reflecting beauty and decay.

Elizabeth Burger
2005

From the gallery director:

Seventeen years ago, the gallery in which I was employed represented Elizabeth Burger. At the time she was making architectural forms out of gypsum cement; strong yet delicate "remnants" with distinctly organic qualities; solid but ephemeral, reminding us of the power nature wields over the man-made world. Of course, keeping in spirit of the time, these wonderful objects were made into functional sculpture--furniture, which I'm sure still grace many a monumental home in and around Washington, D.C. The complexities of nature continued to inspire the artist as years later (2002) in celebration of the newly reopened United States Botanical Garden, she created glorious hanging roots, limbs and seed pods--a fantastical installation of flora immediately recognized by her distinct vocabulary and aesthetic, minus cornices and table tops.

It is a unique privilege to witness the evolution of an artist's work. Flax and Fiber is the culmination of a career making sculpture and five intensive years of residencies and internships focused on paper and paper making. This elegant, fundamental material inspired and challenged Burger to create large but very light sculpture.

Inner Twist with its floating tornado cocoon and pod forms suggests durability and regeneration. The hair-like palm (piacava) is flowing and brittle, but when coiled and layered on mottled surfaces looks everlasting--nothing in nature seems random even when it is imagined. Unfolded, a simple fan-like shape layered with simple seed pods, suggest waves and feathers and flight and uplift. What is most fascinating about Elizabeth Burger's work is her continued investigations into how to make dormant and decayed materials alive and beautiful.>

Diane DiSalvo
October 2005