Surrounded by nature on the edge of the beautiful Manitowish River is an art studio inhabited by talented weaver and fiber artist, Mary Burns. Mary Burns has been weaving for over 50 years and in that time she has developed her skills and even tried out different fiber art mediums such as felting and eco printing, but her main medium has always been weaving. She first developed a love for this medium during a high school art class.
“It was just like the light went on and I knew I wanted to pursue that in some aspect, and eventually was able to do that full time and I still love it, that's the thing. It still really excites me, and I don't envision retiring,” said Burns.
From that first class where she learned to use a frame loom, Burns went on to take more classes in college and develop her skills on larger looms, making rugs and wall pieces as a profession until eventually she worked her way up to a Jacquard loom which is the primary loom she now uses to create her weavings.
“Anyway, I did that, and I’ve woven hundreds of rugs and wall pieces, and I kept tabs on Jacquard weaving, because I saw that someone was trying to develop a hand loom for weavers like me. This was in the early 1990s and I started taking some workshops, and finally decided, okay, we're going to do this. I'm going to buy a loom,” said Burns.
It was this very Jacquard loom that she has used to design and make the weavings for her ArtStart exhibition entitled “Women and Water”, an exhibit featuring woven portraits of women from across the world and how they are connected to water through their cultures, studies, and beliefs. Burns was inspired to create this exhibit when she had gotten to know native women and the deep reverence they have for water while creating a previous exhibit where she wove portraits of elder women from each of Wisconsin’s 12 native tribes.
“So that was part of the inspiration, and the fact that I have this deep love of water kind of blended the two together, and I was doing all this research and finding that there are women across the globe who are doing important water work, and they aren't getting recognition. So I wanted to bring their stories to life,” said Burns.
Once inspiration struck, Burns did research to determine specifically which women she wanted to include in her exhibit. She included women who are connected to water in many different ways, from water keepers in native tribes, to female scientists who made groundbreaking discoveries related to water. In the end, the exhibit included 29 portraits of 39 women from over 20 countries and Burns has been working on it since 2016.
“I started in 2016 doing just the outreach to grandmother Josephine Mandamin, from Ontario, and I started just talking with her and seeing if she would be willing to be in the exhibit and she gave it a lot of thought and consideration, and felt that the exhibit had really important things to say, and was willing to be part of it. So I started with her portrait in 2017 and I did not finish the last portrait until the spring of 2023,” said Burns.
Burns worked over the internet to connect with these women around the world and bring their stories to life back here in the Northwoods for all to see.
Though the artwork features women from many vibrant cultures and backgrounds, All of Burn’s weavings for this exhibit have been done in black and white or sepia tones in order to let the women and their stories shine through without the distraction of color.
“I don't know if that makes sense, but to me, I feel like maybe their essence shows better when it's simplified,” said Burns.
Aside from showcasing important people doing important work, Burns says that much of her inspiration stems from the natural world around her in the area where she lives and showcasing the beauty of it through fiber art.
“It's the natural world. I mean, I'm out every day doing something. My husband, John Bates, is a naturalist, so we are out paddling or hiking, at least, getting the dog out at least every day and I just love where we live,” said Burns.
Burns believes that art is very important for its ability to communicate different ideas and connect with people emotionally.
“I think that it touches people's hearts, and I feel that through art, people can express many different things. But if we can, through art, help people open their eyes to other situations, and maybe change their minds about things,” said Burns.
Mary Burns is no doubt an artist with intention and her weavings not only communicate said intentions in a beautiful way, but they also showcase her immense talent for the medium of fiber art. Burns’ art exhibit “Women and Water” will run at ArtStart in Rhinelander from August 17th through October 27th alongside UW Trout Lake Station’s exhibit about exploring the intersection of art and science. To learn more about Mary Burns and her work you can check her out at manitowishriverstudio.com.
