VERMILLION, S.D. – Soccer and art. On the surface, the two are completely different, but when you ask soccer midfielder Makenzie Burmeister they share similar qualities.
 
"Creativity and problem solving," Burmeister said when asked if there was any carryover. "You have to have creativity in any sport you are doing. Those two things have helped me out in both athletics and art classes. A hard-working mentality has carried over from soccer and into my art. The two really play off each other a lot."
 
Burmeister is a junior art education major at USD with an emphasis in ceramics and sculpture. The daughter of a sculptor and photographer, Burmeister grew up in the art world, so much so that she has a six-foot sculpture of her head on the campus of Metro Community College in Elkhorn, Nebraska.
 
"I had to get my whole head wrapped in plaster so they could mold my head," Burmeister explained. "My dad does a lot of 3D scanning images of people, so I've had to do that. He also does a lot of video stuff, so I've done a lot of that as well. My whole family has, my mom and brother have had to do it, too.
 
"Definitely the big thing was the head. I don't like to point it out to people, but a lot of people have seen it."
 
A veteran of 44 games with the Coyotes, Burmeister chose the University of South Dakota for her athletic future along with her education.

All set up for my sophomore reviews tomorrow!

A post shared by Makenzie Burmeister (@mrbcreations) on Mar 23, 2017 at 6:24pm PDT

 
"I love the art program," she said enthusiastically. "All the professors are really great and work with me well."
 
As a student-athlete, Burmeister is often running back-and-forth between the W M Lee Center for Fine Arts and the USD athletic facilities completing class projects and competing in games and practices. Currently working on four mugs, Burmeister has found herself in-and-out of the lab, while also knowing when to start certain segments because of the travel with the soccer team.
 
"I am in there (the lab) multiple times a day," she said. "I was in there two or three times yesterday. I hand build more than I throw. For me, it is a lot of rolling a slab, then leaving it. I can set up a little bit, taking about 15 minutes. Then I leave and go to practice, or go work on homework. I'll put the next step on whatever I'm making, then I'll leave and go to my actual ceramics class where I can work on it for longer than 15 minutes. It depends what step I am on, but I am in and out of there a lot.
 
"I really have to be strategic in the fall when we're missing classes on when I can start a project. I really have to think about when I'll be able to work on it. It is a lot of energy trying to get in as much as possible but I really enjoy it."
 
The Gretna, Nebraska, native has estimated she has completed around 200 ceramic projects with more projects completed in sculptures.
 
"I had a project where we had to make an abstract figure out of metal," Burmeister said of one of her sculpture projects. "I was thinking, abstract figure, what do I want to do? My feet really hurt that day and my mind kept going to that. I just decided that if something hurts on you, it is the biggest thing on your mind."
 
Out of that session, she created a sculpture of a person sitting, with their feet outstretched, and the feet are as big as the torso and the head.

Very first art show! So grateful to share it with such great people and thankful for the awesome award "badass sculpture" ?

A post shared by Makenzie Burmeister (@mrbcreations) on Jan 27, 2017 at 9:28pm PST

 
"I really enjoyed that one," she added. "I used steel rods, bending them into the form of the body. I put chicken wire around that and bent thinner steel wire into a bunch of rand pieces. I then put that around the chicken wire. It is kind of see-through but still solid. That one was fun."
 
Within ceramics, she has been working to complete a series of black and white vases. Each one is a little different and she is trying to make a forest of them when grouped together.

Black and White (1-5) ~ Ceramic

A post shared by Makenzie Burmeister (@mrbcreations) on Feb 24, 2018 at 3:11pm PST

 
She has worked with Michael Hill extensively, a professor in the art department, specializing in ceramics.
 
"I work with him almost exclusively," Burmeister said. "He is fantastic at what he does. If I have a question about something, he instantly knows the answer. If I have a problem or messed something up, he knows exactly how to fix it. I've never asked him a question that he didn't have the answer to."
 
Burmeister added that the entire department, which is like a community, is great.
 
"My advisor, Cory Knedler, has been amazing. He is actually a professor in a lot of my classes now because he is art education."
 
When she graduates, Burmeister hopes to be an elementary art teacher, one of the reasons she chose ceramics as an emphasis.

Wood fire success ~ 4-20-18 — 4-23-18

A post shared by Makenzie Burmeister (@mrbcreations) on Apr 27, 2018 at 10:15am PDT

 
"I thought I could use that in my future teaching," she added. "I think ceramics is a tool that I would have more access to, and would be able to work with. Clay is a really good medium to work with, especially with children.
 
"As an art education major, we take a class in every medium and test them out. I was drawn towards the ceramics and sculpture more than anything else."
 
Burmeister and her Coyote teammates return to First Bank & Trust Soccer Complex Sunday hosting Northern Colorado at noon. South Dakota is 1-1-2 on the season while Northern Colorado enters the weekend 1-2.
 
The Coyotes are coming off a 3-0 victory over Chicago State, a contest that saw forward Kellee Willer score two goals and goalkeeper Parker Rytz earn her second shutout of the season. Rytz earned the Summit League Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts, including a 1-1 draw at defending Big Sky Champion Eastern Washington.