CONTENTS
Page One:
- Brian Warburton: Drawing with Fire
- Sue Burne: A Life Filled with Art
Page Two:
- "carbón's" New Website of PyroSculpture on Leather
- Abby Levine's Latest Project
- From St. Petersburg, Update on Michael Janson
- Celtic Harps of Old--and New!
|
Untitled, No. 10 |
Costa Rican artist Carlos Alberto Borbón, whose nom d'artiste is
"carbón" was introduced here with his unusual
sculptural technique in the WOM's September-October 2000 Pyrograffiti
and is featured in his "carbón"
Salon in the E-Museum of Pyrographic Art.
I am happy to announce here that he now has his own handsome web
site at Art on Leather. It is
well worth a visit to see more examples of "carbón's"
latest art works and to read his interesting story.
|
"carbón" |
|
The Life of Anna Louise Strong |
Another intriguing piece by American Abby Levine has arrived in the art world. Abby's most recent
work was done on commission and tells the story of a most intriguing
young woman of the early 1900's. Though it is hard to imagine a woman
from Friend, Nebraska, daughter of a Christian minister, as being a
radical, she is described in an account on HistoryLink.org
as "one of the notable radicals in the history of the United
States."
Anna Louise Strong led a remarkable--although many might add
misguided--life that was driven by her passion to help needy children
and working class people.
|
The Life of Anna Louise Strong, detail
of the bottom section |
To orient the viewer, Abby explains that her piece is "loosely
organized chronologically from bottom, to center left, to center right,
to top left, to top right (got that?). Sort of a point-to-point
meander, which is pretty much the character of ALS's activities."
The piece begins by showing Anna Louise Strong's involvment "with
an Episcopalian idealistic progressivism practiced by her father and
with some of the early settlement houses like Jane Addams' Hull House in
Chicago that led to an involvement with the Seattle General Strike in
1919. It then chronicles her involvements in the Soviet Union, her
inclusion in the merry band of those denied passport renewals by the
United States during the Red Scare, and her eventual settling in China."
"Wow! That is a big oversimplification!"
Abby's description will help guide you through the art work, and I think
you will find it worth your while to click on the History Link above to
familiarize yourself with the story of Anna Louise Strong. It is really
quite fascinating.
Visit the Abby
Levine Salon in the E-Museum for more works by this artist and
additional web links.
|
Non-Magic Square |
The second annual Russian ArtIndex has been released, and this catalogue
is even bigger and better than last year's. Whereas ArtIndex 2003
featured 187 artists, ArtIndex 2004 features 395 artists and weighs
almost ten pounds!
And once again IAPA member and abstract pyrographic artist from St.
Petersburg Michael Janson is featured in this publication,
this time with his own personal page showing his work
Universum, which you can see in his Michael Janson
Salon in the E-Museum.
In conjunction with the release of ArtIndex 2004, a special 5-day
exhibit, showing works by artists from that catalogue. The exhibition,
which Michael visited with his wife, opened on November 10th at the
Russian Museum of Ethnography. Michael was represented at that
exhibition--his first ever as a pyro artist!--with his work
Non-Magic Square shown above.
Visit the Russian ArtIndex website (look for a tiny link at the top for
the English version) at www.artindex.spb.ru . In the English language list of artists
there, Michael's name is written as "Yanson Mikhail."
|
The Trinity College Harp |
There is hardly a pyrographic artist who hasn't tried his or her hand at
a Celtic design--one look at those intriguing designs and you know you
want to pyroengrave one on something. It's as though they were designed
with pyrography in mind.
These designs can be found on the early harps shown above and below.
Sadly, these harps' richly colored and beautifully pyroengraved Celtic
designs have faded drastically, the colors almost completely.
There is documentation to show that Irish harps date back as far as the
10th Century; however, as yet--although it seems highly probable--I
cannot affirm they had pyroengraved ornamentation back that far. The
earliest surviving harps from Scotland and Ireland date to about
the 15th century, like the famous Trinity College harp above and
likewise, the Queen Mary Harp of Edinburgh, Scotland, shown following.
One of Ireland's national treasures, the Trinity is Ireland's national
symbol and is on display in the library at Trinity College in Dublin, in
the same room as the famous Book of Kells.
|
The Queen Mary Harp |
Although folk legend credits the Irish with bringing the harp to Europe,
scholarly accounts exist theorizing that that claim may not be totally
accurate. Regardless, for more than a thousand years the harp and
Celtic harp music have been tied to Irish culture and nationalism.
For centuries, the harp was an integral part of Irish life. Traveling
harpists in Ireland were known to be at the focal point of
rebellions--so much so that the harp was banned. Under the English,
starting in the 1700s, the Irish harp as a folk and court instrument was
suppressed to prevent a resurgence of nationalism. Harps were burnt and
harpers executed.
Famous in Irish history is Turlough Carolan (1670-1738), a blind Irish
folk harpist who wrote hundreds of tunes, many of which are still
popular today. Because of Ireland's turbulent history, however, the
rich tradition of Irish folk harp playing and music was often broken,
and much has regrettably been lost.
King Griffith of Wales employed harpists in his court at the end of the
11th Century, and it was only with the Welsh that the folk harp
tradition has remained unbroken.
With thanks for the above images and historic excerpts to Alison Vardy, an internationally renowned harpist, who has traveled to many countries of the world to learn their traditional harp music. Read more about the harp's history and Alison Vardy's harp music at the enchanting Alison Vardy web site, where you will no doubt want to spend some time, as I did.
|
The Witcher Trinity Harp |
On a commission from
The Harp and
Dragon of Cortland, New York, U.S.A., expert harpmaker Jay Witcher
of Houlton, Maine, U.S.A. made the magnificent reproduction above
showing how the original Trinity Harp would have looked in all its glory
so many centuries ago. Although not a standard concert harp of today,
it is a playable wire string harp of museum exhibition quality. The
harp is made out of maple, which according to Jay, "has excellent
acoustical properties and strength." Besides making the basic
harp himself, Jay did the carving, silver ornamentation, and jewel
incrustation for the harp. The exquisite Celtic style pyroengraved and
color ornamentation was done by Charlotte Hallett of Haverhill,
Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Jay has made a wide variety of harps, including other historical copies
of surviving Irish and Scottish harps. In addition to the Trinity,
shown here, which he reproduced for The Harp and Dragon, he has
reproduced the Sirr, O'Ffogerty, Lamont, Queen Mary, and others.
In case you would like to own the above Witcher Trinity harp, it is
currently for sale at The Harp and Dragon for $10,000. Be sure and
click on The
Harp and Dragon link for another pleasurable harp experience.
Look for follow-up antique and reproduction harp exhibits soon in the E-Museum of
Pyrographic Art.
Click here to go back to page one
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The AuthorKathleen M. Garvey Menéndez learned her pyrography techniques in Guatemala in 1975-1977. 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 end of the eighth year of articles on pyrography for the Woodcarver Online Magazine (WOM), started January 1997, and the end of the seventh 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 Mixo Sydenham of Warragul, Victoria, Australia. |
2004, Kathleen M. Garvey Menéndez, all rights reserved.
