Nevada Arts Council honoree Burton featured in TMCC exhibit

Sept. 29, 2015

A Nevada artist who earned a fellowship honorable mention grant from the Nevada Arts Council for 2016 is featured in the Truckee Meadows Community College Faculty Show Sept. 9 to Oct. 15.

“We’re really pleased that artists receiving fellowship honorable mention grants are able to introduce the public to their work through outreach activities, whether exhibits, performances, workshops or lectures,” said Susan Boskoff, executive director of the council.

The TMCC photo collection is part of a larger body of Burton’s work called “The Camera’s Demise,” that makes artworks out of elements taken from disassembled cameras. “My goal is to convert the obsolete or discarded tools of the medium into materials to make new images,” he said.  His photos show what could be called the literal deconstruction of photography, as lenses and pieces become the images in the photo.

“The work is based on targets of the type used in shooting practice. They are made from camera lenses that I have dismantled,” Burton said. “The parts contained within are mostly rings, discs and the ground glass pieces that are the actual lenses. I photograph all of the pieces individually and then collage them using Photoshop.”

Burton is a professional photographer, who came to Nevada in 1998 from Bay Area to work at the University of Nevada, Reno. Now a professor of art and photography at the TMCC, Burton continues teaching and specializes in architectural photographic services.

TMCC Main Art Gallery is at 7000 Dandini Boulevard, RDMT 321. The 41st Annual TMCC Art Faculty Show’s artists include Burton, Paris Almond, Marti Bein, Jill Brugler, J. Damron, Gerald Franzen, Kerra Kinion, Candace Nicol, Ron Marston, Nicole Miller, Maria Partridge, Micaela Rubalcava, Joshua Weinberg, Brian Wells and Peter Whittenberger.

Reno artist Nate Clark who works in painting, and Nick Larsen, who specializes in mixed media, were also selected as honorable mention grantees and will separately carry out public outreach elements as part of their awards.