Fossils of the Future is a series I began in 2016. It feels even more relevant today.

I am a materials artist. I make work using porcelain, metal, hydrocal, glass, wood, resin, plaster, concrete, cyanotype, and more recently, plastic.

My first pieces in this series focused on the casting, in porcelain, of single use plastic bottles and plastic food containers and glazing them with volcanic crusty glazes, hydrocal castings of plastic food containers and large cyanotype prints of plastic waste.

Other work in this series incorporate large burnt trees, sourced from California fires. They have been somewhat transformed with chunks of steel or aluminum and mounted upright on a block of concrete to act as artifacts and guardians of the landscape.

More recently, I have explored plastic debris as a viable art material in itself by incorporating the actual plastic into my art. I rescue plastic from its problematic destructive fate and embed it into the layers of rock, concrete, resin, recycled paint and hydrocal. I create monoliths and mini-liths which are totem like structures resembling futuristic core samples of the earth.

I hope that I have created work that not only visually engages the viewer but also engenders deeper conversation about the world we live in.

E Tyler Burton

sculpture and mixed media

E Tyler Burton

sculpture and mixed media