Now a professional designer maker in wood, Sally Burnett initially trained in 3D design and for many years specialised in the design and manufacture of hand blown glass vessels, panels and large ceramic tile installations, for both private and commercial clients. Since discovering a passion for wood, Sally has rapidly gained an international reputation with her lathe turned and exquisitely carved vessels. Using mainly English native ‘green’ (recently felled) timber, her distinctive decorative vessels often have wide tops and small bases with long elegant curves. They are usually rich in texture created with pyrography and carving, many embellished with acrylic colour and silver and gold leaf.
Turning wood is a combination of ancient practical skills, an intuitive sense of the wood, the 'art' to make the most of the grain, the texture and the structure that is exposed in the making process. Wood is a living material that moves and twists as Sally works it. She cannot easily convey in words the shapes and textures both inherent in the wood and that can be imposed on the surface are endless and the challenge to be unique and push boundaries is exciting.
The forms that Sally makes are inspired by landscape and the natural forms that surround her. She sees the world as a series of continuously changing textures. Rich surfaces, plays of light and shadow many created by extremes of wind and rain. There are currently three distinct threads to her work: the Corvus Nero series that is very much about landscape and texture, Folded Forms, which are an exploration of the relationship between the interior and exterior spaces of an open form and Byzantine which references historical carving and textures.
