The Vermont State Curator’s Office presents Brattleboro artist and state legislator Mollie S. Burke in her solo exhibit at the Vermont State House Cafeteria Gallery titled Realism and Magical Realism. Burke’s paintings and drawings bring the viewer into a dreamlike world filled with richly colored environments that present a sense of place and home, surrounded by nature. Burke’s imagery includes flowers, vines, water, and trees that weave a fanciful tapestry of meaning and movement. On view Now– April 24, the show will celebrate the artist with a reception on Tuesday, April 21 from 3:30 – 5:30 pm.

“To me the natural world is both real and magical. In my paintings I try to represent the marvelous and symbolic aspects of reality. Many influences contribute to my style --the interlace designs of my Irish ancestry, the compositional structure of illuminated manuscripts, and the Zapotec weavings of southern Mexico. I embrace a non-linear way of seeing, and I celebrate the imagination as a value, a force that can save us from narrow ideologies and rigid thinking.” – Mollie Burke

About: Mollie Burke holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Goddard College. She has been active in the Brattleboro community as an artist and teacher of both art and figure skating for many years. She is the founder and director of Art in the Neighborhood, an organization that provides tuition-free art classes to children in low-income housing communities. She also teaches in several Vermont schools with the Vermont Arts Council artist-in-residence program.

Burke is a Brattleboro Town Meeting representative and a member of the Brattleboro Coalition for Active Transportation. She was elected to the House in 2008 and has served since then on the Transportation Committee. She is also Chair of the House Sexual Harassment Prevention Panel and active in the Climate Solutions Caucus and the Women's Caucus. She and her husband have three grown children and five grandchildren.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Food and drink will be served at the artist reception.