MOLLY JO BURKE

Byproduct Studios

Who are we?

Nathan and Molly are an artist and designer couple and parents of young children, their collaborative practice utilizes excess material from their respective processes and home life to create new artworks. A variety of coatings, such as plaster, wax, epoxy, and faux painting, also left over from other projects, are then applied to the artworks to either heighten or obscure their innate qualities.  This allows the artists to play with perceptions of a material’s purpose, quality and value, as waste remnants and the byproducts of their life are transformed through the process. Incorporating reflections on their lives lived together, themes of landscape, play, and architecture flow through the art works.

Collaborative Projects:
Expanding Wasteline I
Expanding Wasteline II
Existential Byproduct
Shelving Unit
Lavatorium
Vanity/Vanitas

Nathan Gorgen

Nathan Gorgen, b. 1986, is a Cincinnati, Ohio based artist and educator.  His artwork explores the space between art and design, as well as digital and traditional fabrication and recycled materials. This manifests as objects on a continuum between furniture and sculpture with varying levels of functionality.  Gorgen received his BFA (2008) in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and his MFA (2012) from the Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD).  After graduation he worked in exhibition design and manufacturing before becoming the Lab Supervisor at the Studios for Art and Design Research at The Ohio State University (OSU).  Gorgen has also taught at CCAD and OSU, and exhibited his work around the country, including at the Toledo Museum of Art,  Inlight Richmond, and the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art.

Molly Jo Burke

Molly Jo Burke, b. 1984, is a Cincinnati, Ohio based artist and educator. She creates artwork examining details of our environment and repetition of forms throughout various ecosystems using traditional and non-traditional materials. Her use of materials reflects on humanity's interactions with nature - sometimes beautiful but at times destructive and precarious. Forms are inspired by cells, plants, coral, and the architecture created by living organisms. Burke received a BFA (2006) from Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD), and MFA (2009), The Ohio State University (OSU), in 2019 she accepted the Barnett Fellowship from OSU’s Arts Administration Education and Policy Program to pursue her PhD. She has taught at OSU, CCAD, and Corning Museum of Glass. Her work has been featured most recently at Toledo Museum of Art, Columbus Museum of Art, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France.