A Few Words with Vancouver Artist, Sylvia Burtenshaw. By Allison Vicente

When getting to know someone, I find that I am always pleasantly reminded of the complexity and compelling interests and impulses of people; my interview with Sylvia Burtenshaw proved no different. A second-year SFU visual arts major, Sylvia is currently exploring the different mediums within her program and is discovering a passion to use photography and digital medias in her work.

I began the interview by asking Burtenshaw what she did before deciding to become an artist. Her reply: tanning salon attendant, tree-wrapping nurse, and English teacher in France made me intrigued in how art became the path she has chosen to take. So, I decided to ask her the terse yet loaded question of –

“Why art?”

After a moment of digesting the question, Sylvia explained that art has always been a major interest in her life. She decided to pursue an education at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts in 2013. However, after a semester in the visual arts program, Burtenshaw felt that she needed more time to mature and understand her craft. Veering off into a completely different direction, Sylvia received a diploma in French at SFU and then left for a year abroad in France to teach English and experience the country’s culture.

Returning to Vancouver, Sylvia felt more informed in her passion to become an artist and decided to continue her degree in visual art. Throughout her time at SFU, Sylvia has discovered a reoccurring theme in her work: faces and technology.

“I explore faces in a detached way — I don’t do portraits but objects [in my art] contain a face,” Sylvia says and then hands me a sticker with a woman’s face on it. Burtenshaw explains she printed 100 stickers of the woman’s face which she invited viewers to take, as a physical recreation of a typically digital action: posting an image online.

I was impressed by the ingenuity of Burtenshaw’s 100 stickers and was curious about the purpose behind her work. She discloses that her art is created “to communicate [her] ideas and look for solidarity in [her] point of view.” Sylvia then rebuts her response with a concern about seeing her artwork as superficial. We discuss how many artists struggle with that concern and Sylvia agrees with a quote of her close friend –

“’So much art has so much ego and to be concerned in the superficiality is an act of ego itself.’”

I concluded the interview by thanking Burtenshaw for her time and sharing the advice her close friend gave to her; a bit of guidance for any artist out there.

Sylvia Burtenshaw, Photos: Viral

Sylvia Burtenshaw, The towel that I cried into on Sunday, September 30th, 2018