Life & Work with Carlisle Burch of Phoenix

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carlisle Burch.

Hi Carlisle, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up in a rural part of California about twenty miles from the nearest grocery store and surrounded by Mojave Desert. As early as I can remember, I was drawing and using it to create meaning and specialness in a place that often felt quite isolating. Illustrated scenes became a way to escape into other worlds. I naturally gravitated towards cartoon and caricature using humor to get a reaction out of my siblings and make light of our surroundings. I was obsessed with Disney animation, The New Yorker cartoons, and the Sunday Funnies. In 2011, I moved to South Carolina where I attended college, earned a degree in Studio Art, and spent the next 9 years. Toward the end of college, I had an internship with a designer who owned a beautifully curated brick and mortar called We Took To The Woods. At WTTTW I fell in love with the way presentation, design, and packaging could captivate someone into buying something. I went on to illustrate a line of packaging for WTTTW while my love of storytelling took on a new and collaborative dynamic. Having been exposed to more elevated design while working with established brands, freelance illustration quickly became my passion and biggest opportunity. I slowly started to build a base of clients and moved into freelance illustration full time in 2019.
In 2020, my husband (born and raised in PHX) and I moved back to phoenix, responding to a longing to be back in the west. Back in the land of wide open spaces, I began painting on a larger scale again. In 2021, we bought a house at the base of South Mountain with a studio attached – a space I am so grateful for. Drawing inspiration from my childhood home in the desert and the nostalgia of 20th century Ad illustration, my work reflects my fascination with paradox. I try to create moments for the viewer to feel both familiar and estranged to the narrative of the desert. Currently, I’m represented by Belhaus Gallery in Phoenix where I had a solo show this past May!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Of course there have been so many “bumps in the road” – some bigger than others! The business side of freelance was a huge learning curve for me. Having little experience, it took time to know what needed to be included in a contract and to send quotes with confidence. Early on, navigating the ambiguous and subjective industry standards of illustration led to ego checks, jobs that never happened, and scary moments of having to advocate for myself.

I also struggled with several technical drawing and design skills that did not come naturally for me. Telling myself that I should have already grasped concepts like perspective, form, and proportion, I hadn’t taken the time to work on these skills enough. I took way too literally advice a professor of mine had given: “avoid becoming too focused on technique at the cost of losing a personal style.” Over-swinging the pendulum, I had several frustrating illustration jobs and concepts that felt unnecessarily paralyzing. To address this, I enrolled in several online courses and started taking an hour every day to practice technique. Now a huge part of my studio rhythm, these exercises have given me a more developed understanding of the “rules” that I’m breaking in art and the freedom of expression that comes with that.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a freelance illustrator and painter using mixed media (mostly acrylic and ink) to create figurative narratives that draw on personal experiences and observations from my childhood in the Mojave Desert. Approaching most of my work with a blend of humor, nostalgia, and introspection, my goal is to explore the interplay between individual reactions to the desert and the external perceptions that have been shaped by societal narratives of a desert climate and the people that choose to escape to it.

My process often begins with inspiring images. I often jump between old family photos I discovered from the 70’s documenting my dad’s family move to the Mojave and 20th century political cartoons. I then typically make a bunch of quick scribbles and notes in my sketchbook. Usually the mess of the initial sketches push my brain in a certain direction or spark the tiniest piece of a memory – enough to get going. Finally, I work the composition out as I add layers to each painting. I’m really fascinated with the intrigue that people seem to have with the American West, so I use a lot of that iconography in my pieces: smoking cowboys, rattlesnakes, etc.

Several years ago, while trying to figure out how I was going to frame and present several smaller paintings, I was struck with the idea to take these small scenes and frame them on a larger background panel wrapped in a rich stained mahogany. I wanted to create this “furniture” effect on the wall with little windows exposing the illustrations. I worked with a local cabinet maker to create a few prototypes until I got the look I wanted. I then debuted the first of these panels during a show in 2023. The unanimous response to the novelty of this presentation was really exciting. I am definitely proud of having a vision for something, working out the kinks, then seeing the vision become a reality.

Throughout my career, I’m constantly reminded that I am the only one who can see inside my mind. And I’m the only one who can put things in motion to see those artistic visions realized. The fruit of putting my head down and simply showing up with consistency and confidence is profoundly rewarding.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
Oh, I don’t know that I could pick one favorite memory. My favorite days were in the summers with particularly heavy monsoons. Our house was about a mile walk from the dry Mojave River bottom and we would regularly walk through the desert to picnic on the perfectly smooth sand dunes and run through the wide white wash. If the rains were heavy enough the dam would be let out and the river would flow. I remember the way it would be excitedly announced in the morning “The river is flowing!!” and then we load up in my dad’s jeep, throw snacks in a grocery bag, and text our friends with dirt bikes to see who was up for what. We would come back muddy, tired, and with no concept of time. It was truly every desert kid’s dream.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.carlisleburch.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carlisle.burch/
• Other: https://belhaus.co/brutal-nowhere

Image Credits
Chloe Hulls Taylor Gonzalez