Rust or Bust

    I sometimes think that I was born in the wrong decade. I love old things, but I'm a new soul; only seventeen years old. I find a solice in all things old, vintage, antique, and odd. My love for old things comes from being brought up in the Mississippi delta and being taught to appreciate the value and pourpose of things. For me it's RUST or BUST! I also love making art out of things that once were shiny, but over its lifetime, has weathered, rusted, or has been forgotten. Art to me speaks in volumes when it comes truly from the artist's heart. Art to me is also like species; there are many different styles, forms, and shapes of art.

My New Hobby: Jewelry Making

I have been making salvaged and repurposed jewelry for a little while now. Piecing this and that together to make minimalist and statement pieces. I have made necklaces, bracelets, broaches, and earrings. I love the thrill of making something new from something old. I love mixing something shiny with something tarnished; a little bone with a little rust. That's how I came up with the name Bone&Rust Art Co. My mom let me pick out what I wanted for Christmas since I'm older and don't want toys. We ended up at Jo-Ann's. I picked out some necklace and bracelet chains, some beads, charms, some blank kraft cards, letter stamps, and a black ink pad. I had fun rummaging through all the jewelry making supplies. I can't wait to open it all Wednesday and start designing new pieces with what she bought me. I love that my mom supports me in my journies even if she doesn't agree with or like what I do. I get a lot of support from my family and my artist friends. 

  These are some ideas that I am currently working on.

The top necklace is styled with gold safety pins and pearls.

This necklace is made from antiqued brass chain and grey heart charms.

I bought a few skeleton keys a week ago and am just now getting to design some necklaces around them.

Recycled Light-Bulb Snowmen Christmas Ornament

I started last Christmas making these Snowmen ornaments. I am currently working on the second batch for this Christmas. I hope to sale about 50 or 60 light-bulb ornaments this year. I hand paint each light-bulb and then work on each detail with the smallest paintbrush I own. I love to experiment with the different types of light-bulbs. Depending on with type I use gives me different shapes of snowmen like: a fat snowman if I use this light-bulb...

Or a tall snowman if I use this lightbulb...

           (This is the finished product)

Functional Art: talks with Hayden Hall

As Hayden Hall knows best, these days people are just as interested in functional art as they are fine art. In our conversations, he has offered me the advice that people these days are looking for art that is more than a good wall hanger or unnoticed sculpture. They want functional art; art made to be used. Functional art can be as simple as an old pallet taken apart and put back together as a wooden canvas for painting and added hooks, mechanical parts repurposed as a candle stick, to more elaborate pieces like a Module truck door  turned into a masculine frame for a bathroom mirror. Here in the delta native people have collected and curated fading objects from decades that have since flashed by like rolling credits at the end of a movie. Those items and trinkets need someone to see their potential as a repurposed piece in someone's artwork. Mr. Hayden is a home-grown creative spirit. He is a Mississippi native and has turned his passion for repurposed / functional art and love for food into a small-town grocery and catering store called Oxbow. In an adjoining building that is connected to the store, he has a gallery / showroom that he displays local finds, artifacts, and the art that his wife (Erica Hall) and him create. When they host a pop-up restaurant, they use this showroom as a small sit-down and eat place for their customers. I find their store a relaxing, hometown, refuge where I can escape the pressures of the day, enjoy talking to my friends (Mr. Hayden & Mrs. Erica Hall), and an artist oasis. Oh. and occasionally I find my favorite food; Hayden's very own Tuna Tacos! You know those questions about what would you take with you if you where going to be stuck on a deserted island? Well I would take Mr. Hayden's Tuna Tacos and my iPhone so I could post articles to my blog! 

(Display window of Hayden Hall's Oxbow)

(Locals enjoy Mexican Colas and Tuna Tacos during a pop-up taco day at Oxbow)

(One of my Tuna Tacos that I took a picture of because I wanted to savor the flavor!!!)

Bone&Rust Art Co: Jewelry

I have created some of the most insane pieces of jewelry; from fishing lure lux, to down-right odd, and weird. Some of my pieces that I have made are more minamal like my shotgun shell and leather necklaces, and some are over-the-top statement pieces like my fishing lure necklaces. I collect pieces of scrap and little trinkets every time I go on an adventure. I have just now started to turn them into necklaces and bracelets. I have a few necklaces that I am working on that are some of the biggest and boldest statement necklaces that I have made. 

These Shotgun Shell necklaces are some of my more minamal jewelry makings.

These two fish lure necklaces are by far my favorites that I've made!

Repurposed Lock-plate & Skeleton Key

Work in Progress. (Pearl and Wood)

"Tupelo Honey" Necklace

Work in Progress

Creating

Recently I have noticed that I am creating more art. I have been working on a prototype creation that I don't want to say to much about and give it away just yet. I can tell you that it has to do with displaying and that it is repurposed from natural by products. Since my fist solo art show back in August I have been turning out many of my ideas as paintings, mixed media, and sculptures. Here are just a few:

"Bruises" (x) 

Acrylic & Gold Leaf on Canvas

"3 Oysters" (12x12) still life 

Oil Paint, Acrylic, Mixed Media on Canvas

"American Flag Cotton Field" (4x12) landscape / Oil on Canvas

"The Patch Worker" (4X12) portrait  

Oil on Canvas

This is an arrangement that I'm working on. I have previously made two more of these salvaged panel artworks. 

"Plus Size Monster" (16x20) Surrealism 

Acrylic on Canvas (work in progress)

Go With the Grain

   For years now I have had a love with old wood. It tells it's stories by the nails jutting out from it, by the holes worn in it, by its chippy paint, and by the weathering it obtains. I have made many things from old cypress wood. I love making crosses out of old wood. The seems to relay the story of Jesus. It was once new, was loved by someone, and then transformed into something else. I am planning to start making some new products and designs out of old wood for local craft fairs. 

        Local barn that I am in love with.

       "None Better Than Jesus" Cross. 

Made from repurposed table leg and an old wooden crate.

Exploring Mississippi

Today I road with my dad to a few Cotton gins to work on broke-down module trucks. While he worked on the trucks, I went exploring. In Vance, Ms I explored the outsides of an old, abandoned two-story house that was starting to give in to gravity. I whish that it wasn't boarded up so I could have seen the insides, besides what I could see through a huge hole where part of the second story wall had fallen away. I then explored an old barn that was right down the road. In Glendora, Ms I explored old trash-piles on the banks of a byou that ran behind the gin where my dad was working. I found an old Sprite bottle from Saratoga National Historic Park, an old Ritchey's Better Beverage "PopKola" bottle, (there was a Ritchey's Better Beverage Bottling Co. in Clarksdale and Indianola, Mississippi)... I also found a huge gauge from an oil tank and a old white tea cup. Today was fun. 

My Goals to Accomplish Before 2015

1.) Build a piano bar...(& sale it)...

2.) Build a sculpture to place in Clarksdale for public display...

3.) Colaborate with Randall Andrews (Delta Debris)

4.) Colaberate with Hayden and Erica Hall (owners of Oxbow)...

5.) Start saving money to open a live in art gallery & supply store for local and traveling artist...

6.) Have the chance to attend an artist workshop...

7.) Co-host an art show with the artist who inspire me...

8.) Get a booth for the Juke Joint Festival 2014...

9.) Build the confidence up to learn how to weld...(I have to admit that it scares me)...

10.) Sale more of my art, because I work so hard and not that many people notice me...

Picking Up the Pieces

  I find myself wherever I am stopping to pick up any little trinket that I spot, whether it’s a lost earring, or a beer bottle top. I have a supply of things at my house, almost too much supply. I need to clean out some of it and soon. I’ll probably just end up trashing most of it, but I’m afraid that once it’s gone I’ll find some clever use for it, or that I'll finally need it for a project. Over the years I have collected barb-wire, bottles, lost and broken jewelry, automotive parts, and basically bit and pieces of almost anything. I have a love of sea glass found on the Mississippi River, old Cypress wood, and rusted metal.

Mosquito Ideas: A Look Into the Mind of Britt Burchfield

  My ideas are like mosquitos. they hover over me, buzz to get my attention, bite me when I'm not looking, and I can kill them, but another one just comes along and takes its place. I usually have anywhere from ten to twenty ideas in my head at once. Not all of them get conceived, created, or given any attention, just the ones that I know I can create or the ones I can achieve. I'd say on a weeks basis I get anywhere from hundreds to thousands of ideas about art; maybe more, its hard to count. Some of my ideas become paintings, sculptures, cabinet curiosities, short stories, mixed media pieces, or sketches; and some just say simple thoughts. I have probably let a potential masterpiece elude me by not giving it any thought or trying to conceive it. many of my works go unseen by the public. I occasionally show them to my family members to get their opinion or perspective of it, but that's as far as I show it. I am going to try and post about and show the art pieces that I create. 

Once Upon A Thread

  Today I'm challenging you to think a little different with this statement: "Not every thread has an end." What I want you to think about is that every textile can be transformed, manipulated, or made new. Say for instance you have a wool sweater that is two sizes too small, don't throw it away! you can take that sweater and repurpose it into many of the following:

• A throw pillow for your couch or bed
• A pair of mittens or gloves for winter
• An insulator for your coffee mug or cappuccino cup
• A cool Beanie hat
• Or save it for Autumn or Halloween and make a scarecrow with it...

*There are so many possibilities, don't limit yourself to just these listed here!!!

You're "Thrifted"

   Thrifting is not a new sport. There are a large number of thrift stores scattered throughout the delta region. Some are name brand like: Goodwill, and The Salvation Army, and others are home-grown, family owned like Begin Again in Batesville, MS. I love going to thrift stores and uncovering or finding something that was used in its day and needs repurposing. the hunt for good bargains gives me an adrenaline rush. Over the past few years I have scored many treasures at a low price! Some famous artist paintings and sketches have been lost for decades then are found in thrift stores. I always look at the picture frames and paintings for art supplies or wall decor.

My Salvaged Life

I love to walk down country roads, in the woods, or on the Mississippi River and salvage things that spark my creativity. I love old wood, rusty metal, lost possessions, bones, and vintage items. I have found just about every kind of item you can think from a vintage Zenith TV in Vicksburg, an army helmet from one of the World Wars, to an ouija board in an abandoned house. I find myself drawn to these things that I find like lost souls who have found each other. I think I was born in the wrong decade. These things make connections with me and I fall in love with them, whether it's as they are or as an object in need of repurposing. I love repurposing these finds into functional art, furniture, or just something from my heart. Many of  the objects I find have seen their best days as what they were, but are in need for a "Salvaging Savor" and that's where I come in. I take that item and give it a new life; a new Feng Shui. My inspirations are Mr. Randall Andrews, Hayden & Erica from Oxbow, & Salvage Dawgs from TV.

What is Bone&Rust Art Co.?

   The idea for Bone & Rust Art Co. started out as an idea for an art supply store and gallery in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Realizing that I didn't have any money to do so, I turned to social media and the Internet. I still have the urge to start it as a local business, but I am waiting. For now this blog is a place for me to show and sale my art work; a portfolio of some kind where you can keep up with my creative process and finished products. In the mean-time I am saving every penny that I can. I hope one day I'll have enough money to rent or purchase a building and explore the adventure of opening an art gallery and store. I (Britt Burchfield) am the owner, artist, and founder of Bone & Rust Art Co.  I am based out of Clarksdale & Tutwiler, Mississippi.