KARL BURKHEIMER
Iris Project Resident: November 2020
During his 14 year tenure at the now closed Oregon College of Art and Craft, Karl Burkheimer was the founding Chair of the MFA in Craft. Prior to joining the faculty at OCAC, Karl was an Assistant Professor of Design at Virginia Commonwealth University’s branch campus in Qatar. He has also worked with students and faculty from the University of Manitoba as a guest instructor for architectural service-learning studios in Turkey and Africa.
Karl’s artistic practice is founded on an interest in labor and skill, reflecting many years of personal experience building objects and environments for both artistic and utilitarian purposes. His work has been exhibited nationally, including recent solo exhibitions at Aphodel in Brooklyn New York and Los Angeles Valley College in California. His critical writing has been published in Ceramic Monthly, and he has received several awards of recognition as well as institutional funding, including a 2012 individual Artist Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission, the 2013 Contemporary Northwest Art Awards at the Portland Art Museum, a 2013 U.S.-Japan Creative Artist Fellowship, and the 2016 Hallie Ford Fellowship in Visual Art.
He received his MFA from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Crafts and Material Studies, and his Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture from North Carolina State University.