Brad Burkhart was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1949. He attended Kalamazoo College in western Michigan, where he graduated with a major in Art and a minor in Physics. He later received a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Michigan.

As an undergraduate, the artist traveled extensively in southern Europe and was profoundly impressed by the Renaissance and medieval artists. He was struck by the change of human consciousness from one of spiritual orientation to one of intellectual orientation.

In addition to art, the artist has a persevering interest in the relationship of nature/ecology to art which led to a study of horticulture and landscape design as well as art. The pursuit of these interests has also lead him to become a leader in native habitat restoration in Southern California. His art work, like his landscape work, attempts to address the deep sense of alienation from self and from nature which exists for human beings today.

Artists Statement: "I have chosen to develop a style of artistic expression with little precedent in the modern aesthetic vernacular. I have ignored the modern concept of the human being as divided into mind and body, and of the human as separate from nature. This concept is based on the primacy of a scientific approach to "knowing" our world which marginalizes intuition as a tool for perception and spiritual integration. In an attempt to find meaning, I have reached beyond the sources of the conscious, commenting, language-oriented mind to something older, richer, deeper and more primary in the human psyche.

I am convinced there is a need for modern man to move beyond his dualistic relationship with reality and only intuition provides a path to accomplish this goal.

My approach, materials and methods are directly related to my artistic philosophy. I begin with pencil drawings. These drawings are created on paper by a process which can best be called "intuitive drawing." Initial lines generate their own images which I then refine as their direction of development becomes clear to me. I never know what the final image will be until it is complete and no two are the same. These non-rationally created images are then compositionally refined and translated into the three dimensional bas-relief terra cotta sculpture panels you see in the show.

The original inspiration for the size and format for these panels were Ghiberti's "Golden Doors" on the Baptistery in Florence, Italy. The images on these panels are both familiar and mysterious since they are of things and beings that do not exist in the "real" world yet are dimly familiar from the stories and myths of older cultures learned in childhood." Brad Burkhart

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