Lilian Thomas Burwell

Ms. Burwell’s canvas-covered carvings and still paintings have grown out of themselves, much as development occurs in the forms of nature which they imply…one phase evolving from the previous.  Her work is a reflection and an expression of the history of her own experiences and reactions.  What in the sixties and early seventies was an abstract expressionism on a flat plane evolved into shaped, then free-standing canvases. Her wall pieces are now also clearly sculptural.  She immerses herself in the creative process, surrendering to the will of the art, allowing it to evolve, blurring the lines between painting and painting as sculpture.  She gives us a closer look into the process of creative thought and the realities of artistic dedication taking us on a journey with an array of colors, shapes, and forms.  Ms. Burwell's life itself echoes her six-decade journey, evidencing the evolution of her work. One newspaper's art critic quoted one of her close followers that he interviewed: “Her spirit grew too large to be contained on a flat surface”.  

 From a beginning firmly planted in aesthetic basics at Pratt Institute in New York and a Master of Fine Arts degree at Catholic and American Universities in Washington D.C., she now emerges "doing exploratory things with her art that one expects of a person many times her junior both in physical years and spiritual audacity,” says David Driskell.

 In this exhibition at Parish Gallery she shows an abstractionist’s glimpse of a period in which she was inspired by what was left in winter of summer's growings...the 'greenings' still growing indoors. Before her canvases left their flat planes to soar into space and light on the walls, she created life-sized standing works… environments of labyrinthine paintings into which one could walk. So here we will also see one or two of the small sculptures that could be discovered in those spaces.

 Lilian Thomas Burwell was born in New York City in 1927 and was educated at the High School of Music and Art in New York. Over the years she taught at Pratt Institute, Washington, D.C. public schools, and Duke Ellington School of the Arts.  Her works are in public and private collections around the world, and she has participated in numerous group and one-woman shows.  She has broad experience as a curator, director and activist in the arts, and in 1997 Hampton University published her book “From Painting to Painting as Sculpture: The Journey of Lilian Thomas Burwell”.  She is also the recipient of several awards, and has numerous publications, videos and broadcasts to her credit.