Blogging has become a worldwide phenomenon. From celebrity gossip columnists such as Perez Hilton to women’s health communities such as iVillage, blogging has created public forums in cyberspace.
But not all blogs are made for rumor-spreading and weight-loss tips.
Kensington sculptor Brad Burkhart, who carves and fires bas-relief terra cotta clay to create three-dimensional hanging-wall panels, has created his own blog at www.burkhart-sculptor.com in an attempt to name 14 of his pieces inspired by the war in Iraq.
“I sat at Rosecrans (National) Cemetery once a week from January through July 2003,” Burkhart said. “I sat with the first three men killed during the war in Iraq, and I randomly sketched things.”
One of those soldiers, Burkhart said, was from San Diego.
“Brian Matthew Kennedy was the first soldier killed,” he said. “He had been a student at El Cajon High School.”
But whether those killed were from San Diego or New York, Burkhart said the point of the project was to discover a way to “get past war” and cease the killing.
“At the end of 2002, the world saw the first international protest of a war,” Burkhart said. “It was the largest anti-war movement, and I started thinking about how we could move past it.”
With that idea in mind, Burkhart set out with a sketchpad and a journal and recorded his daily experiences among the dead.
“I eventually stopped because I was becoming increasingly depressed,” Burkhart said. “When you sit with the dead for long periods of time, it takes its toll on your psyche.”
After six months of work, Burkhart had produced 14 individual pieces, which can also be viewed on his site.
But even three years after the commencement of the project, Burkhart’s pieces still remain nameless.
“That’s why I’m opening it up to the public,” he said. “College students in particular would be interested in this topic, and I find that when I get other people’s input, they find meanings behind my work that I wouldn’t necessarily think of.”
-To view Burkhart’s work, read his journal and to help name his pieces, visit www.burkhart-sculptor.com. The blog will be open until the end of this year.
