Welcome To The New Year

  I have been working on a new jewelry collection every chance I get. The collection is titled: "The Grit & Glam Jewelry Collection" and I plan on debuting it sometime this year. I am excited for a clean slate; a new beginning. Things are happening and the B&RAC brand is turning into a fun endeavor. Adventure is what my bones crave first and oxygen is second. I have been working on my first t-shirt design for the brand, upcoming events, and possible collaberations with local and national creatives. This Christmas I got more jewelry making supplies and tools, so I'll be prepared for what this new year has in store! Great things are coming from Bone & Rust Art Co., so buckle in, hold on, and get ready for a wild-life & RUST-ic adventures. Make sure that you "Stay Glamou{RUST}" while your along for the ride. This week while I was staying in San Antonio for Christmas vacation, I bought some jewelry supplies as well. I have already made at least three jewelry pieces since Christmas day. I am not only planning a jewelry trunk show, but an art show, a special event, and many collaborations for this year!

    (Happy New Year from Bone & Rusr Art Co.)

   ( My Jewelry Supplies & Me)

"Back to the Bones"

Last week I got back to work with animal bones and my one of a kind Bone & Rust Art Co. artworks. I realized that I hadn't worked with them as a medium in awhile and relized that I hadn't produced many products for B&RAC latley. So, I am dedicating my self to make a few artworks. I am also vowing to keep up my work with the animal bones that I find locally and on my adventures and walks in the woods around my house. I'm wanting to eventually hold a Bone & Rust Art Co.  art show featuring these works. I currently have three in the works. I have endless ideas and concepts that I'll be working with till I get a good many pieces to where I can hold a show. I am hoping to find a place in downtown Clarksdale, MS to host the show, but I am open to hosting it in a different town like; Oxford, Charleston, Cleveland, MS, or Memphis, TN. I am really entertaining the idea of holding the show in an abandoned building. This idea would really compliment my artworks and sculptures, plus it would give off cool vibes! Until then I'll be working with bones, rust, and abandoned relics...

                                               Love,

                                                  Britt A. Burchfield 

P.S.- Here's a  sneak peek at what's to come...

   ("untitled" Work in Progress by B&RAC)

 ("Chandedeer" Work in Progress by B&RAC)

B&RAC Mission + Project

At Bone & Rust Art Co. we want our customers to be the forefront of our brand, our designs, and our advertising. We strive to be original, creative, and colorful at the same time while still pleasing clients, customers, and potential investors. Each design is crafted and handmade by Mississippi Delta Artist Britt Burchfield in Tutwiler, MS. He is the driving force behind B&RAC and stated it back in early 2013. Ever since that first idea he has been branching out and achieving success from being a vendor at the 2014 Juke Joint Festival, to teaming up with Grace Askew (alumni from season 4 of The Voice) and launching "The TN Tumbleweed Jewelry Line", to a new jewelry collection and it's debut in the works! Britt takes vintage, broken, and unwanted jewelry and transforms them into one-of-a-kind statement pieces. He also loves creating new pieces from  scratch. It's a struggle to buy all the supplies that he needs to create these amazing products on a starving artist's budget! So he is needing your help! If you have any unwanted or broken jewelry please donate it to him. You can contact him or wait till he gets some drop-off boxes set up at local Clarksdale establishments sometime in the near future!

-Thanks from Britt & Bone & Rust Art Co.

The Tennessee Tumbleweed Jewelry Line" (Grace Askew Update)

Last Friday night... ( no pun intended) I attended the album release party for Grace Askew's new album "Scaredy Cat". I had a booth set up next to the merch table. I debuted my Grace Akew inspired "Tennessee Tumbkeweed Jewelry Line" and carried some other jewelry that I had left from my first booth at this years Juke Joint Festival to sale. I sold a few pieces and met lots of new people. The music was great and the atmosphere was even better! I hope to do something like this again. Now that the jewelry debut is over I'll be looking for a new adventure...  I want to start working with interior design and decorating.

The True Tennessee TumbleWeed: Grace Askew

From "The Voice" to her voice, Grace Askew has the world in a mystic trance; enticing us in with her smoky voice and her southern charm that's kind on the eyes! Razor slick, Grace could sing a baby to sleep by singing the dictionary! If you can't tell, I'm a fan! She has an unique style to her that  makes the people she meets love her even more. This past April during The Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi, I met Grace at my Bone & Rust Art Co booth. She bought a one of a kind necklace that I made from salvaged and repurposed items. We talked back and forth over the next few weeks and I pitched the idea to Grace for me to create a jewelry line that was inspired and based upon her charm, personality, music, roots, and soul... I also recently hosted my first ever photo-shoo with Grace in and around downtown Clarksdale. We emailed our ideas concepts and vision for the line back and forth to each other and discussed them almond each other over our social media accounts. We came up with some pieces to start the line with. The name we selected for Grace's first line was " The Tennessee Tumbleweed Jewelry Line". There's a little bit of everything in the collection of pieces; lots of raw repurposed metals, leather, and salvaged bullets. The line will be debuting at Graces new album release party, which will be held on July 25th, at Minnglewood Hall in Memphis and starts at 8:00pm. I'll be there with a table displaying the jewelry line and selling the limited / one of a kind pieces. Jimbo Mathus and the Dirty Crooks will be Graces musical gest. I hope to see some of you there supporting Grace and I on our artistic adventurers.

(I took these pictures during our shoot.)

Summer Festivals, Farmer's Markets, & Craft Fairs

I hope this summer is full of festivals, farmer's markets, and craft fairs. I have a farmer's market in Sumner, Mississippi to go to today. I'll be there from 3:00 - 6:00PM. I also have another festival that I might be attending as a vendor, but other plans may get in the way of that event. I love the one-on-one atmosphere of events such as these because the artist and the viewer are together and the experience can be more personal than some big-shot, slick backhaired curator trying to convince you that this piece dips one of a kind, but the tag says #556 of #1,000. I have a few other special events that are planned to happen this summer. More info will be released when I gather all the info and supplies!!! Stay tuned for some awesome news!!!

Success of Bone & Rust Art Co.

I recently have been posting about my first booth at the Juke Joint Festival. I wanted to write an article and let you know how I did in sales and on making new friends. I sold several pieces of jewelry, art, and a few sculptures. I sold a Chicken-Wire Taxidermy Deer Form sculpture to a lady from Atlanta, GA, a Dog Skull Cross to one of my friends from Clarksdale, MS, a huge cross made from chrome that came off of an old ford truck to acouple from out of town, a Salvaged Copper Wire Cross to my fifth grade teacher, and a Wooden Cut-Out of Mississippi to my friend's mom. I also sold a  paintings and at least eight pieces of jewelry.

Jewelry:

1)"Entangled Teeth" (Raccoon Teeth) (Earrings)

2)"Snake Vertebrae & Pink Pearls" (Earrings)

3)"Pick Your Fight" (Guitar Pick) (Necklace)

4)"Skeleton Key" (Necklace)

5)"Glass Beads" (Necklace)

6)"Glass Beads" (Necklace)

7)"Leather Cross Cuff" (Bracelet)

8)"Relic" (Necklace)

Painting Artworks:

1)"All Eyes On The Wierd Girl" (Painting on 11x14 / Canvas Panel)

2)"Untitled" (Painting on 8x10 / Canvas Panel)

3)"Cotton in the Field, Cotton in the Sky" (Painting on 4x12 / Streatched Cotton Canvas)

4)"The Patch-Worker" (Painting on 4x12 / Streatched Cotton Canvas)

5)"Disaperaing History" (Painting on Streatched Oval Cotton Canvas)

6)"Patch-Work Landscape" (Painting on 12x12 / Streatched Cotton Canvas)

7)"Plug-Head" (Experimental Painting on 11x14 / Canvas Panel)

8)"Pillbug-Man" (Experimental Painting on 11x14 / Canvas Panel)

9)"Untitled" (Painting on 8x10 / Canvas Panel)

Sculpture Artworks:

1)"Life As We Know It" (Modge-Podged Images on Found Object / Salvaged Metal Self)

2)"Chicken-Wire Taxidermy Deer Form" (Chicken-Wire, Deer skull with Antlers, and Deer Jaw)

3)"Dog Cross" (Real Dog / Coyote Skull, Epoxy, and Wooden Cross Painted White)

4)"Ford Chrome Cross" (Cross Made From Chome Embelishments from a Vintage Ford Truck)

5)"Mississippi License Plate Cut-Out on Wood" (Assemblage on old Cypress Wood)

6)"Twisted Copper-Wire Cross" (Copper-Wire Hand-Bent into a Cross)

7)"Abandoned Spaces" (Mississippi Salvaged Wood Cut-Out with Hand-Textured Front)

Jewelry Debuting At The Juke Joint Festival

"Leather Cross Cuff No.1" 2014 by Britt Burchfield

"Cotton Boll Necklace" 2014 by Britt Burchfield

"Tire Swing Necklace" 2014 by Britt Burchfield 

"Oh! Deer!" 2014 by Britt Burchfield 

"Entangled Teeth Earrings No.1" by Britt Burchfield 

"Skeleton Key Necklace" 2014 by Britt Burchfield 

"The Pulley & The Prism Necklace" 2014 by Britt Burchfield 

"The Craftsman Necklace" 2014 by Britt Burchfield 

"Bamboo Panel Necklace" 2014 by Britt Burchfield 

"Leather & Spring Necklace" 2014 by Britt Burchfield 

"Elegant D.N.A. Necklace" 2014 by Britt Burchfield 

"Untitled Necklace" 2013 by Britt Burchfield 

Our Debut: The Juke Joint Festival 2014

   The public debut of Bone & Rust Art Company is just one week away, so I am getting excited. It's not only an adventure for me, but a step out on a limb; a step away from being an artist who just paints. I am making this session because as an artist I don't won't just one thing associated with my name, I want a million possibilities to be at my reach. I have come to the realization in my personal life and life as a creative spirit, that: It's not about the time you spent, but the technique in with you did it. I have prayed over the past few weeks that all will go well next Saturday, that I have enough artworks and products, and that I meet more people than I can remember! I also have prayed that I make a name for myself. I want to be able to make something that touches the life of another person, because Art is supposed to do that and if it doesn't than what good is it? I want someone to see a piece of mine and say, that's from Bone & Rust Art Co. and tell others about it. In life so far I've had three artist mentors. Bradley Gordon, Hayden Hall, and Randall Andrews have all inspired me and encouraged me along my path as an artist and as a young man starting out with a long road ahead. I look at them and see Clarksdale's Van Gogh, Piccaso, and Basquiat. Men who are and will be remembered for who they were and the art that they gave to the people. Two of these three men that I look up to own pieces of my art, one owns at least four of my artworks and the other owns one piece. I love discusing new ideas and projects with them. They give me their honest feedback and that's one reason I look up to them. I have been packing up all of my art pieces and products for the Juke Joint Festival and I've almost packed it all into boxes and bags. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't scared for a bad result, or loosing profit from is journey that I've been making over the past two years. All I can do is advertise, pray, and show up. Can't wait to meet all the people who come from out-of-state and other countries.

Progress of Procrastination

I sometimes take breaks from art projects. When I feel like giving up or letting an idea go, I take a break and do something else till I find inspiration again to go one or finish the project. It may be a month or just a day, whatever it takes to be inspired again. I sometimes work on three to four projects at a time, it depends on how difficult they are. We'll I guess it's true I started this article over a month ago and I'm just now writing more of it. I recently started reworking a wearable sculpture that I have been making and waiting for a long time to finish. I call the piece "The Fashion World's a War". It's a dress made entirely out of repurposed chicken-wire, artist canvas, blood, sweat, and a few of my own personal tears! It's a labor of love, but it's a work in progress. I am currently working on layering canvas onto the chicken-wire form. I plan on being finished by April and I might even display it at my debut at a local Mississippi artist craft and music festival known as the Juke Joint Festival, held each April in Clarksdale, Mississippi. We'll have to wait and see where it goes, but I'm staying positive!

Finding the Right Decor

   I recently cleaned all the junk out from my room, took my bunk beds apart and stored them in the attic, and rearranged my two bookshelves. I decided that I wanted to redecorate my room with repurposed and salvaged items, so while I was in Clarksdale one day I went to a junk store that was located in a dirty, waterlogged, dusty, store front that used to be some bigger store. The owner was just trying to make an honest living selling anything that he could. He was really nice and checked on me offten to see if I needed help or had any questions. I found some salvaged chippy painted wood that I liked, an old cotton painting on a wooden panel and as I was fixing to pay the owner for what I had, I saw an amazing trunk barrier under a pile of junk. I quickly asked if it was for sale and he said that it was for sale, so I said SOLD!!! After that I had a trunk for redeocating my room, I just needed a desk and a few little items to hang on my walls. I have a few animal skulls that I want to hang on the walls. I also want to print and frame some of my personal photography. I am going to use one of my bookcases as an art supply station on the left of my desk and the book shelf on the right is going to be my curiosity cabinet. I have so many small curiosity cabinet worthy pieces but I'm going to have to organize it. I also collect weird and strange pottery pieces. I have a Penny Loafer made of clay, a bright orange hunting themed pitcher, and a blue and grey glazed bowl that I found in local woods. Oh! I almost forgot... I got my new desk from my families business that works on and hand-builds Cotton Module Trucks. I notice a dirty, little, blue, wooden desk that needed love, so I broke out the sponges and cleaning spay and put some elbow-grease into shining it up a little bit. Then I called a local glass cutting company and got a custom piece of glass cut for the top of the desk. I brought it home and wa-la, a salvaged desk given new life. Then same day my family went to Cleveland, MSto shop at Wal-Mart and I bought some drawer organizers that are Lego like. They stick together on the sides of each cubby. I am still working on decorating, but hope to be through soon.