CONTENTS:
Page One
Selahattin Olceroglu Recreates Orientalist Works of
the Ottoman Empire
Cheryl Dow--A Pair of "How To" DVD Videos
Page Three
Susan Millis: Pursuing a Unique Degree
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Susan Millis At Work
Examining and Documenting |
English pyrographic artist and conservator Susan Millis was introduced to
WOM readers in Pyrograffiti
30 both as an artist and as a conservator who had
done her undergraduate dissertation on pyrography
conservation.
Susan has recently been traveling in the United States
working on research for her doctorate in the
conservation and restoration of pyrographic works.
Her first paper is due in the fall and because of the
research she had already pursued on a panel owned by
David Plunton of The Three Witches of
Macbeth thought to be by Ball Hughes, and
because a second panel has been offered to her for
research thanks to another private owner of a Ball
Hughes panel, Susan decided to do this first paper
towards her thesis on a study of Ball Hughes'
pyrographic works.
The goal of this trip was specifically to find,
photograph, examine, and document as many Ball Hughes
pyrographic panels as possible. Any other works that
were also available, such as the beautiful Turner
panel in the image above, were a bonus. Particularly
of interest for historical reasons were works by J.
Wm. Fosdick, who admired Ball Hughes, wrote about him,
owned at least one of his pieces, and started his own
career in pyrographic art because of him.
The whirlwind tour was one of great difficulty because
of the heat wave over most of the eastern United
States; however, visits to the many places on the
itinerary were greatly facilitated from point to point
thanks to the kindness and generosity of many people
along the way who were interested in Susan's project.
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Susan Millis and
Collections Manager Cindy Mackey |
Thanks to all those fine people, including my sister
Sharon Garvey--who drove down from Maine to pick me up
at the airport in Boston, then pick Susan up at the
train station there--Susan, Sharon, and I were able to
see the Ball Hughes Sancho Panza panel
at the Bostonian Society
and Museum, and from there travel to Vermont so we
could meet with Douglas Schneible and see two Ball
Hughes panels--Gen. McClellan and
The Trumpeter--along with a large number
of antique pieces in his extraordinary collection of
rare pieces. (See some of them listed among the works
in the Antique
Hall of the E-Museum of Pyrographic Art, which
also links to Douglas' web site.)
In one afternoon and into the evening, Douglas first
gave us the grand tour on two floors, and then Susan
went about documenting not only the two Ball Hughes
panels but as many others as she could. Meanwhile,
Sharon photographed whatever she could on Susan's
behalf while following the strict scientific procedure
that Susan required for her purposes.
It was an intense day, followed by dinner at a fine
Italian restaurant in Montpelier, where we sat by a
large open window with a sheer drop to the river below
and pretty much talked about only one thing as we had
all day--pyrography and how we can exhibit it in the
future. We returned to put in some more hours in the
evening and then reluctantly left to rest for an early
morning call. Sharon left in the wee hours to return
to Maine.
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Douglas Schneible |
The next morning, after driving since six o'clock,
Douglas, Susan, and I stopped for a nice visit in New
York State with Bill and Rhonda Drucker to see a fine
Fosdick panel the size of a door. We are resolved to
learn more about this piece, which is signed but which
has no title on it. Bill's father from whom he
inherited it, had always called it Lady
Gainsborough. Before long, farewells again
and off to New York City for the rest of that day. On
a sidewalk somewhere in Manhattan, Susan and I said
our farewells in a rush and expressed our gratitude to
Douglas before catching a cab for the Brooklyn Museum.
Next on the agenda was a visit to the Brooklyn Museum
of Art and a tour of the Conservation Department there
with Toni Owens and colleagues who most graciously
showed us all the conservation work that takes place
behind the scenes in anticipation of upcoming special
exhibits. Because Susan's research is unique, it is
not surprising that even with professionals, the
pyrography panels are something unheard of. With few
exceptions, the whole concept has to be explained at
each initial visit or through each correspondence with
a new institution. Coincidentally, though, Toni had
visited the exemplary Conservation Centre at the
National Museums Liverpool where Susan had been
working in the U.K.
By that evening, Susan and I were viewing outstanding
contemporary works by the late Sophia
Albu Ionita (who also did a lot of very large
panels) and visiting with Mike Ionita who had met us
for the Brooklyn Museum tour and taken us afterwards
to view his collection in New Jersey. It was there
when Jody Schiffenhaus, also of New Jersey, arrived to
present Susan with a Ball Hughes panel of The
Monk (one of two known panels of this title by
him) to loan her for her research. Susan is looking
forward to examining the panel at close range under
magnification and comparing it to the one of The
Three Witches of Macbeth that she already has
there in the U.K.
Afterwards, Mike was our gracious host at a lovely
dinner, where we spent the evening earnestly
discussing--not surprisingly--pyrography and how we
can exhibit it in the future. Mike is in awe of his
late wife's creativity--she was such an artist! He
and his children are hoping to create a museum to
exhibit her works and honor Sophia. Before departing
that evening, we returned to Mike's to see Sophia's
pieces one last time. I loved seeing those intimate
pieces in person. They're so full of symbols and
icons, and so personal. Several of Sophia's former
students have written to tell me how much she meant to
them. The next morning we were catching a bus back
into New York City and another from Penn Station to
Washington, D. C., where some more pyrographic
research awaited.
Four important works were in the Washington, D. C.
area. One afternoon was a joint meeting at the
Smithsonian with curator George Gurney of the American
Art Museum and curator Ellen Miles of the National
Portrait Gallery. Both museums share the old Patent
Building, and are newly opened in July after being
extensively renovated for a period of years.
We were joined at that appointment by Gail Houle, the
owner of the earliest dated Ball Hughes panel
Babylonian Lions of 1856. Knowing we
were meeting with the curator of the National Portrait
Gallery, Gail also brought with her a very nice 19th
Century portrait in oil painting that she owns. Both
pieces were met with great interest, along with Jody's
Ball Hughes panel of The Monk that Susan
brought. Here was one exception in explaining what
these pyrographs were about--there is already an
enormous triptych by J. Wm. Fosdick on display in the
American Art Museum, and it seems to be getting a lot
of attention lately. After going through the museums'
library files on both Ball Hughes and J. Wm. Fosdick
for a few hours, that triptych was our next stop.
If you ever visit Washington, D. C., don't miss seeing
J. Wm. Fosdick's 1896 triptych The Glorification
of Joan of Arc! It is breathtaking. And at
over nine feet tall and about 13 feet wide, it takes
up a whole wall niche designed for it. It is simply
amazing. The large ottoman in the center of the room
is an ideal vantage point to view the piece in its
entirety and from lower down, which plays into the
illusion that Joan is being taken up into heaven. To
tell the truth, from pictures of this piece that I had
seen, I had the impression that it was colored. It is
not. It is relief carved and pyroengraved--in
places to a depth of half an inch, and Joan of
Arc's halo and the central sun at her feet (where the
angels are) and the rays emanating from the sun behind
St. Joan are all gilded.
|
Don Quixote in His
Study |
Another day was a relaxing visit with Sharon
Throckmorton in Virginia, who has been lovingly
maintaining, documenting, and, in some cases,
researching the many heirlooms--especially paintings
done by various family members--that have come down
through both sides of the family. When she saw an
article on Ball Hughes in the Antiques Roadshow
Insider magazine, she asked her son Tom to
research their Ball Hughes panel Don
Quixote on line. Tom found the E-Museum's Antique
Hall quite independently of the magazine article
where it was referenced. Some time after we
corresponded, he took a series of digital images of
their Ball Hughes panel. During our visit that day,
Susan took some additional ones for her research
purposes. While examining the piece closely under
magnification--it's such a clever piece with lots of
amusing details--she discovered an interesting detail
in the lower left where there is an open book--some
little figures charging on horseback similar to some
sketches done by the artist on the back of Douglas
Schneible's Gen. McClellan work. His is
dated 1862--one year before this one.
And finally, one evening Kelly Brown graciously
stopped by with her Ball Hughes panel The
Monk. Susan, Kelly, and I welcomed the
opportunity to see the two panels together--Kelly's
and the other one, which Susan brought with her from
New Jersey. Unfortunately, although both are
inscribed and signed, only one is dated (Jody's,
1866). Susan had originally estimated Kelly's to be
circa 1865. Susan is looking forward to comparing the
results of her planned in-depth study of the second
panel of The Monk with the
documentation she has on all the panels in addition to
a physical comparison with David Plunton's Three
Witches of Macbeth panel.
Time ran out too quickly. A lot was accomplished! But
there are still a few sites that need to be visited.
We'll leave those for a follow-up segment in another
Pyrograffiti.
Meanwhile, Susan is still hoping to locate any additional panels of Ball Hughes' pyrography that are out there. If you know of any, she invites you to participate in her project to document all of them. Please contact her at smilli01@bcuc.ac.uk.
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The AuthorKathleen M. Garvey Menéndez learned her pyrography techniques in Guatemala in 1975-1977 under Carmela Flores. Her sister, Artist Sharon H. Garvey, later joined her there to collaborate on a pyrography project designed to promote this art form in the United States by means of a didactic book and a pyrography tool made by Navarro of Mexico.Thanks to the internet, this is the tenth year of articles on pyrography for the Woodcarver Online Magazine (WOM), started January 1997, and the ninth year of the E-Museum of Pyrographic Art, which opened its virtual doors January 1998. In March of that year, the International Association of Pyrographic Artists (IAPA) was formed and members began meeting on line. Linked from the E-Museum's Café Flambé, which hosts the IAPA meetings, is the Yahoo Groups uniting_pyrographers mailing list, member list, and chat forum set up for IAPA members by IAPA Cofounder Ken "Mixo" Sydenham of Warragul, Victoria, Australia. |
2006, Kathleen M. Garvey Menéndez, all rights reserved.
