Born and raised in Mississippi, Byron Burford was drawn to the University of Iowa through an interest in one of its professors: Iowa’s Regionalism artist, Grant Wood. The American Gothic painter mentored Burford as an undergraduate, helping him hone his talents and lifelong love of circuses and carnivals into a distinctive oeuvre.
Burford earned his B.A. from UI in 1942; the same year, Wood died of pancreatic cancer at just 51 years old. After enlisting and serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII, Burford returned to Iowa City to finish his M.F.A.
A teaching career in the UI School of Art and Art History would keep him here for 38 years, along with his wife of 65 years Kathleen Kane, herself a notable artist. They befriended Kurt Vonnegut (who called Burford “the best guy in Iowa City“) and other luminaries of the Iowa City cultural scene…