Sarah Burns | Prairie’s Edge

Marta is honored to present Prairie’s Edge, the inaugural solo exhibition of work by artist and designer Sarah Burns. Named for the Minnesota casino frequented by Burns’ grandmother, this presentation of nine furniture explorations is a deeply personal study of autobiography and the varied typologies of American craftsmanship.

Each display—organized loosely in so-called Room Groups that recall those in her parents’ Midwest furniture store—reflects the artist’s interest in traditional materials (ex. wool, glass, birch, steel, cotton) used in unlikely complement. Every choice is an impish yet refined reimagining of the formal qualities of the home space, imbued with the warmth of memory and its attendant emotional landscapes. This odic investigation allows for the expression of Burns’ simultaneous concerns of narrative and function: Knob Screen operates as a spatial determinant while also acting as an armature for material explorations of privacy and non-privacy; Coastal Mirror, inspired by the side-view mirrors on tractor-trailer trucks, swivels open to re-present or absorb its surrounds; Party Table gives new meaning to flipping-the-table, variously inviting community or solitude based on its configuration.

The seamless integration with which the artist combines elements of function and gesture speaks to the larger treatment of her works in space, specifically their expression of the environments they inhabit and reflect. In Prairie’s Edge, Burns is able to evoke the material atmosphere of a roadside diner or family rec room with transportive precision: We are ensconced in a vinyl booth, our feet resting on bright linoleum tiles; the shouts of lively competition echo as we challenge our loved ones to best-two-out-of-three. The works on view offer up a third space beyond Labor and Rest, their convertibility suggesting something like Recreation. The intimacy and sincerity with which Burns practices her craft translates to a highly developed sense of joy-in-necessity, leading us to delight in her quest for earnest utility.