Though life has taken her across the country and briefly in search of a different career path, all roads eventually led April Burris back to art, Arkansas and the great outdoors.
Born in Blythe, Calif., April grew up in Clinton Arkansas, in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. In college she studied economics in search of a “more reasonable career,” but art kept calling her home.
“It didn’t take long before I found that for me, art is inescapable and is truly a part of who I am,” she says. “I began painting in my early 20s and during the early days I painted mostly large, abstracted works.
“Moving back to Arkansas and rediscovering the beauty we overlook each day inspired a shift in my work,” she says. “I became so overwhelmed by the incredible landscape of my home that I began to explore showcasing our beautiful state through my paintings.”
A self-proclaimed “outdoor girl at heart,” April says she grew up exploring the woods and to this day remains most at home outside.
“Keeping this in mind, it makes sense that, inspired by impressionists, I too, bring my work outdoors. A practice known as painting en plein air – French for ‘outdoors’— I often can be found standing outdoors at my easel, attempting to capture the feeling of a fleeting sunset, a field of cattle or a back alley with great lighting.”
April has competed and won or placed in several regional and national plein air painting competitions. She is a partner at Art Group Gallery in Pleasant Ridge Town Center, where her work is on display. She was the Artist in Residence in the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion during the first quarter of 2024. Her work also is currently represented by Art on the Square in Bentonville. To see examples of her work, visit artgrouparkansas.com.