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Statement
My pictures are fragmented narratives evoking promises and things wished for. These fragmented moments tell and
retell stories, embellishing and forgetting with each telling. Using the meditative medium of hand-stitching and
embroidery, and catalogs and other found images as source material, I reconstruct and personalize objects, bodies and
spaces.
Etcetera
Willburn’s work is an investigation of the tradition of drawing via the employment of craft-based media, namely
embroidery. This twist allows for the creation of an entry point into the work that is open and inclusive. The meditative
aspect of the repetitive act of hand embroidering brings an inherent tenderness and sentimentality to the imagery, which
does not overtly imply emotion in and of itself. These arranged scenes of domesticity or individual objects intended for
“nesting” in the home are harvested from a variety of sources such as home décor catalogs, magazines, films, etc. In
their original state, these images are meant to entice us, to create a need that equates these objects to a blissful home
life. Willburn erases these created myths by extracting the images and isolating them on the plane, leaving them to exist
only as delicate, hand-stitched contour lines. These composed objects create an implied narrative that is devoid of the
commercialism of their source and is instead oozing with a sense of familiar, intimate exchange. This gentleness and
vulnerability is echoed in the narrative titles that reference one side of a conversation between lovers, family and / or
friends. There is an immediate and beautiful awkwardness that occurs for the viewer in the moment when it is realized
that although we are not getting the entire story, we are privy to something private. The one-sidedness of the narrative
allows us to insert our own experiences into the conversation. These moments are personal yet universal and that is a
major strength of the work. We have all been there. These pieces have the power to make us feel warm and fuzzy but
also can evoke sadness. At times, they can make the viewer cringe as they can encourage such a degree of empathy
that you almost hope that that story is reconciled in the next piece. Sometimes it is and sometimes we are left to fill in
the blanks and wonder. This conceptual space that exists within the work is cruel and wonderful at the same time but is
paramount. The beauty of the drawings is perfectly balanced by the complexity of what is really going on within the
narrative. It warrants thoughtful exploration and viewing. It makes you work for it. It exists in the idea of making the
ordinary extraordinary….and it is extraordinary.
-J. McCambly 2009
Bio
David Willburn was born in Fort Stockton, Texas and currently lives and works in Fort Worth, Texas. He received his
BA from Vermont College of the Union Institute and University in 2001 and his MFA in Visual Art from Vermont College
of Fine Arts (FKA Vermont College) in 2004. Currently he is a Professor of Art at Eastfield College in Mesquite, Texas.
Willburn’s work has been featured in exhibitions at the Union Gallery of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, the
Museum of Arts in Design in New York City, the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, 500X Gallery and Good
Good Things in Dallas, the Arlington Museum of Art in Arlington, Texas, Backroads Gallery in Damariscotta, Maine and
the Gallery at the University of Arts and Design in Helsinki, Finland.