ST SEBASTIAN’S

Matt Burke.
Burke ’95, a director at JimmyKimmelLive!] I moved to LA aer
college to pursue an acting career.”
Once in Los Angeles Burke met and signed with his brother’s
agent. He also enrolled in e Second City, a premier comedy
theater and school of improvisation, where he was able to hone his
cra.
“When I finished e Second
City program I started
performing regularly on stage,”
noted Burke. “I had a weekly
show with some of my friends.
is led to more shows on
different stages in the area. e
improv comedy world in LA is a
pretty good community where
different stages have a lot of
performers who improvise at other stages. Once you go through one
of the schools you get plugged into that community, where you learn
of many more opportunities to perform.”
Today Burke is performing in a live improv show with a group of
comedians. during each performance the group takes a suggestion
from the audience and, based on that suggestion, goes up on stage
and performs a sketch for thirty to sixty minutes that is completely
made up on the spot. Burke also acts in numerous television
commercials, including spots for Walmart, Honda, Wendy’s,
Budweiser, Bud Light, and National Car Rental, and has appeared in a
few short, independent films.
Just as acting gives Burke the opportunity to express himself on
stage and in front of the camera, his artwork enables him to share his
emotions in a completely different way.
Ifindpaintingtobeverytherapeutic...
Iseethingsinmypainting-inmy
work-thatdefinitelyreflectwhoIam
atthatmoment.
“I like creating things and images. I also like creating things by
acting on stage,” stated Burke. “With comedy, I love getting up there,
involving the audience, and seeing people’s instantaneous reactions
to what I’m creating. With painting, I’m reacting to what I am doing
myself and it takes a long time before I show it to somebody else. It’s
two very different experiences. I do love them both.”
Although Burke was first introduced to art in the classroom at St.
Sebastian’s, it was during his freshman year at Middlebury that a
mild interest blossomed into a love that continues to flourish.
“Middlebury has a program called the January Term,” he stated.
“during that month you can take one class from a list of courses that
aren’t normally offered. My freshman year I took a painting class.”
Aer arriving in Los Angeles following his graduation from
college, Burke found himself teaching elementary science. e
experience helped him to discover a new, innovative way of
expressing himself through art.
“We were using special dyes to highlight parts of cells that we
would view under microscopes,” he explained. “I starting
experimenting with those dyes and the glass microscope slides –
using the dyes as paint to create images on the little glass slides. I
would then look at my work through the microscope before scanning
the glass slide image into a computer under a high resolution in order
to blow it up to a much larger size.”
He added, “Now, in addition to using dyes and other chemicals
to create images on glass slides, I am also taking much larger pieces of
glass and making much larger paintings.”
Burke is currently in talks with area galleries, where he hopes to
be able to showcase his work in the near future. until that happens,
he is working to expand his portfolio, a job he thoroughly enjoys.
“I find painting to be very
therapeutic,” he noted. “Painting
enables me to let out my
emotions. It’s a ‘de-stresser.’ I
am seeing things in my painting
– in my work – that definitely
reflect who I am at that moment.
I can fully immerse myself in my
work and don’t have to worry
about anything else.”
Burke credits St. Sebastian’s for instilling in him a good work
ethic and strong moral character. He encourages current students to
take the time to discover their passions and work hard to develop the
skills needed to excel in them.
He concluded, “St. Seb’s definitely prepared me not only for
college, but for life in the real world as well. e curriculum forced
me to give it my all. at definitely helped me. It taught me that
when times are tough, you need to keep going. You need to be
determined and really go aer your goals and your dreams. If a St.
Sebastian’s student knows what he wants to do, if he wants to enter
the art or entertainment world, I would encourage him to fully
immerse himself in that goal and find as many avenues for expressing
himself as he can.” n
WWW.STSEBASTIANSSCHOOL.ORG | 27