It pleases Dawn to create bowls that enhance the pleasure of eating. There is a delicious sensuous feel to her pieces that transcends your ordinary experience of setting the table and doing the dishes. You don’t want to take your eyes or your hands off her footed, glazed and bronze-rimmed creations. They are 100% food safe and can be used in the microwave, dishwasher and in the oven for warming.

Part of the continuing appeal of her medium is the element of chance inherent in the glazing and firing processes. Each time she opens the kiln after a 12-14-hour firing and another 12-hour cooling there is one of three outcomes. Each piece is inspected, washed and packed for shipping, or it is refired, or it is smashed immediately if it doesn’t conform to her exacting standards.

The story of the artistic adventures and travels that inform her work would fill a book. Born in London, England, she came to Toronto when she was eight years old. She attended the Ontario College of Art and Design with the goal of becoming a commercial artist to support her appetite for travel. She landed a job back in London with the advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather. One exposure to commercial filmmaking was all it took to ignite her passion for the medium. After taking time out to work on a kibbutz in Israel where she drove a tractor in the vineyards, Dawn returned to Ottawa. To her great joy she had the opportunity to work with Canada’s legendary film production company, Crawley Films.

Dawn does not suffer from a lack of initiative. While she was teaching art to teenage boys at the High School of Commerce in the ’70s, she became increasingly concerned with their vulnerability to AIDS and drug addiction. She decided to pursue a Master’s degree in Education at Queen’s University in order to learn how to reach youth through film. There isn’t enough space to tell about all her film exploits. Suffice it to say she developed a program for the Department of National Defense to indoctrinate Canadian recruits being sent to the Sinai Desert, and she worked on an award-winning video about Canadian Victoria Cross winners for which Bryan Adams co-authored and sang Remembrance Day.

Burnham Wood Comes to Maberly

Mark Burnham was born in Toronto where he apprenticed as a conservator at the Royal Ontario Museum in 1969. Trained at the New School of Art, Mark began selling and exhibiting his paintings in 1970 while working in Switzerland and Germany on conservation studies. After his return to Canada he met Dawn when he was working as a set designer for multiple production companies in Ottawa. Mark really wanted to live in the country, so when Dawn decided she wanted to marry him, she included residence in Maberly as part of the inducement.

The investment paid off, and Mark has expanded his artistic horizons. After winning the 1999 OHFTA (Ottawa-Hull Film and Television Association) Award for Best Set Design, he created a series of wooden “throne chairs” for the ACTRA Awards ceremony the following year. Spurred by the decline of the video production market, he developed a unique line of “not plastic” furniture for children, presented by Chameleon Nation Gallery in Kingston for the first time in June, 2008. His brilliantly hued chairs, cubes/night tables, “Dr. Seuss” clothes trees and clock towers are built to amuse as well as to last. His eight-foot tall clothes tree donated to the children’s palliative care unit at the Kingston General Hospital accommodates all heights and has brought many smiles to anxious faces. In his idle moments he produces a wide variety of functional wooden utensils, turned candlesticks and fish boards. He also creates wooden sculptures for the garden, and transforms “found” pieces of wood into functional furniture, walking sticks and lawn ornaments.

Mark Burnham has made a holistic metamorphosis to country living. After serving as a Councillor for Tay Valley Township for nine years, he is now the Chair of the Mississippi Valley Conservation Board of Directors. MVC is “a local, watershed management agency delivering services and programs to help protect and manage water in the Mississippi river watershed and other natural resources in partnership with government, landowners and other organizations.”

Sundance Studio Tour on Labour Day Weekend

On September 5-7 there is a great opportunity to meet Dawn and Mark Burnham and enjoy the fruits of their artistic talents. They are among the eighteen artists who value and care for our environment who are participating in the third annual Sundance Studio Tour at 1047 Zealand Road in Maberly. Visit their website for a map and a full description of this lovely garden event, or call 268-2171. Both Dawn’s and Mark’s works are featured at Chameleon Nation Creative Emporium in Kingston. Dawn’s sensuous bowls are also available at FoodGifts, 9 Church St. W. in Westport (273-3219).