Still in the Studio: Susan Burnstine

Posted on Feb 10, 2021

Catherine Couturier Gallery presents Still in the Studio, the 2021 edition of Safe in the Studioa blog series launched in spring 2020 in response to the pandemic. With each blog post, works will be highlighted and discounted 20% for one week following the post’s publishing date.

This week, the gallery is pleased to present the following post by gallery artist Susan Burnstine: 

In six weeks we will be “celebrating” our one-year anniversary of being locked down, shut in and masked up in Los Angeles. The never-ending habitrail of quarantine life seems to have no end in sight and time as we once knew it has transformed into the oddest of realities. I have been presenting countless Zoom artist talks and workshops and attending Zoom happy hours, Zoom birthdays, Zoom holiday parties, Zoom baby showers and Zoom neighborhood council meetings… We live in the strangest of times. 

Despite all the peculiarities and challenges, I am grateful for all the positives that have kept me engaged throughout this perplexing year. For the past fifteen years, I have enjoyed teaching six or seven in-person photography workshops per year. I never imagined teaching more than that, but everything changed in our new Zoom-driven pandemic world.

Since May 2020, I have taught workshops virtually non-stop for organizations such as: Santa Fe Photo Workshops, Maine Media, and LACP. During the past nine months, I have worked with more than 150 students from all over the world. Despite the hard work, teaching has offered a rewarding connection during an unprecedented time of disconnection.

As previously mentioned in my Safe In The Studio blog post in April 2020, the pandemic has made it challenging to shoot my current series, as it requires travelling to iconic locations and cities across the country. These locations reflect the universal connection to the American Dream via the collective hopes, fears and aspirations found in the social topography of the United States. 

Refrigerator interior door of film, Susan Burnstine, Still in the Studio

Susan Burnstine's fridge filled with film

Over the past year, I have created a few new images found in or around Los Angeles. But for the most part, I have spent my time culling through stacks of sleeved negatives in hopes of finding some gems passed by. Working with homemade cameras and homemade lenses can be a tricky and highly problematic ordeal, so I waste a lot of film. And I mean A LOT of film. An intervention should have been organized years ago. I have stacks and stacks and stacks of sleeved negatives piled on my desk. Hunting for one pearl among the masses can resemble a Princess and the Pea scenario. But if and when a winning negative is unearthed, it’s like discovering a priceless buried treasure. 

In the past year, I’ve found several gems in the archives that were previously passed by and I’ve added them to my series Where Shadows Cease, Resonance of America’s Dream

Susan Burnstine, Down the Colorado, Catherine Couturier Gallery

Down the Colorado

For this installment of Still In The Studio, I have selected a newly uncovered gem entitled Down The Colorado, which was shot in March 2019 not far from the Desert View Watchtower in The Grand Canyon. 

– Susan Burnstine

The following three pieces are available to purchase with a 20% discount in each size for the next week. The discount will no longer be applicable on orders made after Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 11:59PM

 

Susan Burnstine, Amidst the Rains, Where Shadows Cease: Resonance of American’s Dream

Amidst the Rains
12 x 12 inches, edition of 15: $880 ($1,100)
16 x 16 inches, edition of 15: $1,280 ($1,600)

 

Susan Burnstine, Leaving Harlem

Leaving Harlem
12 x 12 inches, edition of 15: $880 ($1,100)
16 x 16 inches, edition of 15: $1,280 ($1,600)

 

Susan Burnstine, Down the Colorado, Catherine Couturier Gallery

Down the Colorado
12 x 12 inches, edition of 15: $880 ($1,100)
16 x 16 inches, edition of 15: $1,280 ($1,600)

To read Susan Burnstine's original Safe in the Studio post, click here. To learn more about Susan Burnstine and see more of her work, please visit her Artist Page.
 
For purchases or further inquiries, email us at gallery@catherinecouturier.com.

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