In To the Muse, Myrna Burks presents her second solo show at Carter Burden Gallery. The body of monoprints that are featured in the exhibition were created in the Spring of 2016 and inspired by the Japanese Yatsuro papers in which they are printed on. Long and vertical, each luscious print was made on an etching press with collage shapes by direct rolling or brushing of the plexiglass plate. Often there is a ghost image left on the plate after the first print, which then propels the next print into being. Burks writes, “Some artwork seems to make itself and when that happens be grateful to the muse.”

Burks is a painter and printmaker based in the East Village of Manhattan and Orient, Long Island. Burks studied lithography at the Tamarind Institute while earning her M.A. and M.F.A. at the University of New Mexico. Following graduate school, Burks taught printmaking and opened her own collaborative workshop in Portland, Oregon. After several years of specializing in lithography, Burks became inspired by the variety of technical possibilities of monoprint, which led her to painting directly on canvas. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. Solo exhibition highlights include shows at The Painting Center in New York, Davidson Gallery in Seattle, and Laura Russo Gallery.

Group exhibition highlights include “New Prints 2003/Winter” International Print Center Invitational in New York, NY, and “Veerle Rooms in Dialogue” Exhibition of International Printmakers in Antwerp, Belgium. Her works can be found in the collections of the Kaiser Permanete, Portland, OR; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; Hunter Art Museum, Chattanooga, TN; New York Public Library Print Collection, New York, NY; The New York Stock Exchange, Washington, DC; among many more.