Pittsburgh based artist David Burton’s striking assemblages are made out of vintage toys and other found objects as he happens upon them, layered into puzzle-like creations. His near-obsessive layering of objects recalls the work of other assemblage artists, like Kris Kuksi, infused with a sense of playfulness despite their dark color. Sourced everywhere from local thrift shops to his walks on the beach, the objects that Burton features are also his main source of inspiration.
Depending on each piece, Burton explains that he chooses objects that will create an interesting variety of texture, design, shape, and form. One such piece combines natural items like barnacles to regular, plastic toys, textured to look like they have been on the bottom of the sea floor, visited by familiar characters like Barney the dinosaur and the iconic yellow submarine. Typically colored in black, he says that his latest works pay homage to artist Louise Nevelson, known for her monochromatic sculptures, “with a bit of a twist.”
Burton shares: “always searching, ever changing, never know whats next… this pretty much sums up my approach to my art because I’m always looking for new items to work with, which may lead me into a whole new direction. Currently, for the last 8 years, I have been reassembling found and broken objects in a similar fashion as Loise Nevelson only using modern day pop iconic items, toys make up the majority of the work. With no end in sight, I collect daily and create daily.”
David Burton’s work will be on display at Lakefront Festival of Arts in Milwaukee this weekend, from June 17th through June 19th.
Australian artist 
While some sculptors sift through piles of objects in antique stores for materials, British artist 
Of all the creatures on the planet, perhaps no other has inspired us quite like birds; they are strong, light, beautiful, and have the freedom to go anywhere they want to go. Birds have long inspired artist Tom Hill's mixed media sculptures made of carved wood, forged copper, and steel. The birds that he builds are characterizations of real species like owls and and black birds, capturing their natural personalities in a playful, even cartoonish way. He gives them big, rounded and expressive eyes, delicate feathers spun out of hardy wires, and long, spindly legs. "I tend to think of all my pieces as character studies. Spend a few seconds observing a bird; the turn of the head, the flash of an eye, puffed up feathers; each gesture conveys a wealth of visual material for the artist as we see the bird consider and interact intelligently with the world around it," he says.