David Willburn
Interview & Photography / Catherine Bernier
Texas-born artist David Willburn invites us into a world where memory, material, and landscape converge. Rooted in the deserts and canyons of West Texas, his work captures the subtle poetics of place — the way terrain shapes identity, and how surfaces can hold the weight of a life lived.
Now based in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, David draws deeply from the geography of his youth — its vast skies, parched soil, and agricultural patterns — not only as inspiration but as metaphor. Through a practice grounded in material transformation, he explores how memory is layered, fragile, and resilient all at once.
Each piece unfolds through a tactile language of paint skins, repurposed textiles, and fragments of domestic packaging, echoing the handmade gestures and quiet labor of queer domestic life. In his hands, humble materials become vessels of meaning, weaving together stories of belonging, care, and evolving identity.
David’s process is both intuitive and intentional. Through abstraction, he reassembles fragments of personal narrative into compositions that pulse with texture and color, allowing the work to exist somewhere between the physical and the emotional — between home and horizon.
With an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts, Willburn continues to expand his body of work, bridging intimate experience with larger conversations on place, visibility, and transformation. His practice offers not just a reflection on where we come from, but how we carry those landscapes within us.
In David’s work, memory is a terrain, and the act of making a way home.
In May 2024, David participated in a self-directed residency at The Parcelles. He discovered the opportunity through a fellow artist’s post on social media — images and reflections that immediately resonated. “Their shared experiences suggested a space conducive to reflection and creative rejuvenation,” he recalls.
Upon arrival, the setting exceeded all expectations. The cabin, perched just meters from the Atlantic shoreline, offered an immersive experience where the rhythmic lapping of waves became a constant auditory backdrop. “This natural cadence fostered a meditative atmosphere, allowing me to engage deeply with my artistic practice,” he shares.
The residency not only offered a physical space for work but also facilitated a profound connection with the surrounding landscape, influencing both the conceptual and material dimensions of my art.
- David Willburn
The solitude and serenity of the place opened space for exploration of new materials, processes, and the tactile, sensory aspects of creation. The landscape seeped into his work, informing both the conceptual and material dimensions of his art. What began as a residency became a pivotal moment in his ongoing exploration of place, memory, and materiality.
Reflecting on the experience, David describes The Parcelles as more than a physical studio, it’s a space that listens, mirrors, and restores. “The quiet, the solitude, and the deep connection to the natural environment offer something essential — an opportunity to listen, reset, and reconnect with your practice. In a time when so many of us are pulled in multiple directions, that kind of focused stillness feels not just restorative, but necessary.”
For David, The Parcelles provided what every artist craves yet rarely finds: time, space, and a gentle rhythm that allows creativity to flow unhurried, like the tides rolling in and out along the shore.
Follow David Willburn / @david.willburn
Portraits by Catherine Bernier / @cath.be
