Tick. Tick. Tick. Time stops for no one, and not all notice the time. But a clock sits on the wall and recounts the time for those who do notice.
In a generation of kids who don’t rely on classic clocks to tell the time, Ojai Valley School Lower Campus and guest artist Chuck Burright are bringing clocks back into the lives of students.
Mr. Burright – an artist who loves designing clocks with any host of mediums like ink, pencils, and paint – was the first guest artist of the year and a perfect fit for this year’s theme, Roots and Wings.
His ties to OVS are the embodiment of roots. He worked for OVS before his role as a guest artist, bouncing from job to job. He began working at OVS in 1986 as an assistant to his wife Eleanor Burright, who serves as resident and weekend coordinator at the Lower Campus.
His roots in art also extend beyond working on art at OVS. He and Mrs. Burright ran an international camp where Mr. Burright taught art.
“You see a pattern of her being the boss,” said Mr. Burright, chuckling.
But his work on clocks is purely his own.
Mr. Burright has made his art his career, selling his first clock when he was working weekends at the school. It was a clock based around a trout and lures, and a parent loved it so much they bought it.
He has gone on to win awards like Best in Show, First in Creativity, and Best in Category. He is self taught, works out of his garage, and occasionally will show up on Ojai’s Art Detour, an annual weekend event celebrating the work of local artists.
He was recommended for the guest artist program after he donated an abundance of planks that were originally meant to become clocks. With the art department unsure of what to do with them, OVS woodshop teacher Ryan Lang suggested bringing in Mr. Burright to offer a clock-making workshop to Lower Campus students.
And the school was happy to have him back.
“It was very enjoyable — he has a wonderful sense of humor and is really good with the kids, he knows when to push the kids to pull more out of them,” said Lower Campus art teacher Patty Campbell. “He has a really nice energy. It’s not always easy for an artist to walk into foreign space, and the kids took to him really well. He’s very genuine. It was fun sharing the space with him.”
Mr. Burright’s ties to the school are even stronger than just a returning staff member though. He is deeply tied to the people at the Lower Campus.
His daughters attended the school, and he has an especially close connection to Mr. Lang, who, when he was five years old, acted as the ring bearer at the Burright’s wedding.
But time has passed since a small Mr. Lang walked down the aisle to hand off the wedding bands, and Mr. Burright’s clocks have marked it. And now the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students’ clocks will too.
The student made clocks are currently up and on display in the Pearson Art Center, for anyone who wanders in to see.
The room is awash with color and the effort put into them is clear. The individual creativity shines through, but so does the skill and guidance of Mr. Burright.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever worked on a project where there was so much creativity and diversity in each student’s final project and process,” Mrs. Campbell said.
Mr. Burright also opened up a new medium to the students, spray paint, which is not something that is usually incorporated into the middle school art program.
“It was really fun and he knows how to do some really cool stuff with spray paint,” said Grace McHale, an eighth grader. “He showed us some really interesting tips and tricks.”
Mr. Burright helped the students produce some incredible work and inspired them to create projects they were proud of.
“I want to hang it in my room and just look at it,” sixth grader Joshua Taft said of his clock. “I think I’d like to continue making clocks.”
The clocks hang on the walls ready to start counting the seconds, the minutes, the hours, the months, and the years for the young artists. They are ready to watch as they develop and grow.
And while some may argue that clocks are obsolete and modern technology reigns supreme, time will still be here. Screens shatter and phones get dropped in pools, but clocks keep ticking and the artistry that went into them will always have a place in world.
With his work, Mr. Burright has shown how creativity and time go together and never go out of style. And the students will have reminders of that as they glance up at their clocks or gift them to beaming recipients.
“I really, really enjoyed it,” he said. “I enjoyed every class. It was probably the highlight of my year.”
