Paper Cuts
One of the things Marquetry seems more akin to at the moment is the Art of paper cuts. This seems to have become quite trendy recently with Artists like Peter Callesen, Richard Sweeney and Jen Stark. The fragility of the material and the actual ‘cut’ itself as the critical action. Both techniques require precision and a slip of the blade could cause an irreversible error.
Peter Callesen particularly makes some interesting work both pictorial and sculptural. The varying scale in this work jumps from the standard A4 sheet to massive installations, the material proving no obstacle for the ideas. I saw the fairytale castle that the artist made in the ‘Art and Enchanment’ exhibition that toured to Walsall earlier this year. There wasn’t much I found enchanting about the exhibition but I did enjoy the castle, cut and constructed from an enourmous sheet of paper, the cuts and holes exposed revealing the process of its construction.
Infact discarded pieces of veneer that have had pieces removed for pictures are fascinating to me. Perfect shapes hover in the middle of a carefully selected sheet, having provided a piece for a picture these incomplete sheets lie in wait for the next time they may be of use.
There are endless connections between paper and veneer- obviously products of wood. Also historically and culturally both among the most accessible and familiar of primitive art materials. Papercutting has its origins in East Asia- China and Japan where the craft is still very important- and reading of it’s rural origins is interesting- like work with wood it has developed within the countryside and developed in a more sophisticated manner, transferred to the workshop as a higher form of art.
Play with Parquetry
Parquetry is the use of geometric design in marquetry. Games boards and furniture typically finding use for the technique. I like the simplicity of making up chequered sheets. Slicing straight edges and worrying less about the holes in between joins.
I’ve tried to play about with this considering geometry in nature, using the monkey puzzle branch which is a beautiful object in itself.
Notes about the woodworker
I’ve been trying in my mind to get to grips with wood and began to read ‘Woodland Crafts in Britain’ by Herbert Eldin. Putting into context the cultural importance wood Eldin outlines how many industries have unquestionably relied on wood and woodworkers over the centuries. This is sort of aside from a central discussion of marquetry but something I think is really important. As links to the countryside are imprtant to me anyway it made sense to see the connections made with rural life in this book. Tools, fuel and construction simply could not have existed without wood for so many traditional industries and rural operations. Everything began with the woodsman.
Only the day before photographing a tumble-down old farm cart this became more significant when looking at the relationship of woodman to wheelwright to farmer etc and similar chains all dependent on a source of wood. It seemsed quite apt to have been drawn to this relic of a woodworking age for this project.
It seems the old ‘craft/ Art’ debate re appears here again. Marquetry doesn’t immediately sit easily as a ‘woodland craft’ owing to its less functional applications and associations with cabinet making and ‘fine applied Arts’. Eldins book avoids these crafts and concentrates on those linked more to forestry, trade and agriculture and particularly woodworking that has been practiced in Britain but has now died out.
Eldins exploration however has a lot that I find I can link to Marquetry and which is both relevant and interesting. Primarily appreciating the versatility and rewards to be found in working with wood.
I think veneer can make you think about trees in a different way, the patterns, deformaties, bug holes and knots. These qualities aren’t just potential things of beauty but say alot more about the lives of the trees they came from. How the marks in the wood tell a tale about the growth and specifics of the situation in which the tree grew is quite incredible. Every inch growing in a different way with variable factors becoming literally ingrained within.
Taking these peculiarities for granted, looking at shapes and pattern not just for their potential as pieces of an unmade picture emphasises the life cycle of wood. How the material has a diversity beyond other materials becomes apparent the more a leaf of veneer is studied.
I’m not sure I like veneers being referred to as a palette though, I think because it seems too closely related to painting and seems a bit limiting. Nevertheless this ‘palette’ is full of endless possibilities and surprises which I find exciting.
Notes on veneer
I have been thinking about the qualities of veneer. As a metaphor it signifies a surface, a cover up, hidden depth under a fine layer. I like these associations and find it is interesting to think about them relation to how the material is used. The very flatness of veneer could be exploited more in Marquetry rather than being applied to another surface.
Traditionally being an alternative to inlay into a solid surface, Marquetry as a cover up acts as a playful 'trick' being easier to execute than inlaying itself. The use of Trompe-l'oeil seems to have grown from this- effectively being used in Marquetry a lot. The play between 2 and 3 dimensions seems a natural way to work with the technique because there is such a fine line between the two in this case.
I have been drawn to working in a playful way with some of my initial experiments.
I find I am looking toward wood in general in my process, connecting the solid form to veneer. Refering to wood in the broadest sense seems important to begin to understand the material and how something so solid and imposing as a tree is reduced to such fragile sheets; and similarly how this then returns to be a 3D 'covering' after being worked.
