About Gray Art Collection

Discovery

Artist: Al Burts

Al Burts is a skillful artist who uses the thin lines of a ballpoint pen to create bold works of art that display African American themes such as homelessness, migrations and struggles of average Americans.

He creates emotional portraits through his unique style of carefully using line and space, and parts of various individuals that he may experience in his life. Their stories are conveyed through a painting, drawing, or other mixed media. He works on a variety of surfaces including un-stretched canvas, paper and wood to displace his realistic and symbolic images inspired by the African roots of America.

Al Burts grew up in Alexandria, VA and received his formal training from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. He is an alumnus of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and a retiree of The National Gallery in Washington, D.C.