"Shadow Art"

[Scrolling Days]

Originally Posted by Jediscroller

Perhaps it refers to this stuff (still don't see what it has to do with scrolling though): Shadow art |

Whatever we decide "Shadow Art" is, you have to admit, this stuff is pretty darn cool!

[sawdustus]

Kevin you are absolutely correct in not wanting a shadow art category at a scroll picnic or show. Here's my two cents. A shadow is cast by a solid object and is dark against a lighter colored background. When we cut a standup puzzle (ala Judy Peterson), it can cast a shadow if the light is placed correctly but there is no way we could call it shadow or silhouette art. What we cut is fretwork or scroll work and that is what we should call it.

The Victorians created shadow art in two ways, and almost exclusively used paper. One - by creatively cutting a picture (portrait or landscape I have seen them both) out of the middle of a piece of white paper and pasting it onto a black backer or two- by cutting the pictures outline out of black paper and pasting it onto a white backer. Since we don't do either of these, we don't create shadow or silhouette art.

As for subcategories in our scrolling, (portraits, landscapes, puzzles, compound cutting etc., etc, etc.) why not. Fine art has lots of them (oil, watercolor, gauche, western, oriental, early middle ages, late middle ages, portrait, landscape, Roman portraits, Greek statues etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum ad nauseum), art schools give courses in all of them, museums devote whole rooms, wings and buildings to them and art critics write and speak about them all the time.

Getting too windy...time to post.

george

[wiwoodsguy]

This type of art has been around long before the scroll saw. It was known as negative relief carving. That refers to the pattern type. The scrollsaw give a different way to hack the pattern out of the wood. In day long ago before the printing press they used these wood carvings to print with. the thing is that it was carved opposite so the black stuck up so when you put the ink on it and pressed it on paper you would get a picture of what we see when we carve the black and put a backing behind it. Mike

[zoozoo2]

I have read with interest the many postings concerning "Shadow Art". Since I am mainly responsible for the term, I feel an explanation is due. The January issue of Sawdust will cover this more fully. At ths last picnic held in Branson I was privileged to meet and get to know Jeff Zaffino. Before we go any farther I will admit Jeff caused quite a stir in the scrolling community with his problems and I am not here to have further discussions on that topic. But, you will have to admit he created some very good patterns for the scrolling community. As our rooms were very close at the hotel I got to spend some time watching him create patterns on his computer. I admired his artistic ability using black and white to create an almost 3-D effect with his designs. At the time, most of you will ackowledge that Gary Browning was considered the expert on creating the portrait pattens we all knew. I felt Jeff's patterns went beyond the "portrait" patterns because I considered portrait as depicting a person face. I mentioned to Jeff that I thought calling his patterns "portrait style" cutting did not really do sevice to his patterns. he created so many more patterns that did not include faces that I thought there must be another word that could be used for his style of designing. He said he liked the term "shadow work" because he used the illusion of shadows by using black felt as a backer for his work. He thougt black helped set off the real art of the subject he was trying to create. I thought about this for some time and called him and asked him if the term shadow art sounded ok. He said he liked that. As a member of the Board of Directors of Saw, I presented this idea at a board meeting in September of 2007. After much discussion over the next three monthes with Board members and other members of the scrolling community we deceided to create this category at the 2008 Expo in Wilmington Ohio. AS always Saw is open to suggestions from all scrollers as to what we can do to help further the "art" of scrolling.If you would like to discuss your feelings or ideas please contact me at tyler740@embarqmail.com

[BobD]

Thanks for the explanation, Toby. I appreciate you offering to let people discuss it with you in private. I'd request, though, that since the discussion started here in the open that people continue to feel free to discuss the concept here on the open forum. I've found that the best way to move an idea forward is to keep all of the discussions out in the open where people can see and comment at will.

Bob

[Jediscroller]

Well, I still think fretwork art most accurately describes the style though I really like the sound of chiarascuro, LOL. After all, it's essentially a piece of artwork created by cutting frets in a piece of wood or other material. Folks outside of scrolling I feel would at least have some idea of what it was. As I said previously I would strongly recommend avoiding the term for those doing shows as it will create confusion in the minds of juries.

[Scrolling Days]

When I first read the term "Shadow Art" on this thread, the first thing which came to mind is the cutting of silhouettes, kind of like those wooden structures we see scattered across various front yards.



Basically, a cutting which defines it's object by shape alone, without the assistance of internal painted detail or relief work.

That's kind of why I made my puzzle Figural analogy.

This is a picnic contest entry form I found online, however, offered by S.A.W. I don't know which picnic this was for.

http://www.dfwscrollers.com/Picnic/S...%20Contest.pdf

It defines the "Shadow Art" category as:

Shadow Art: This would be the portrait type pattern. All of the portrait type cuttings belong in this class. This class is new. The pattern was probably developed from a picture using a photo editor type of program. No distinction is made about the subject matter of the project.

If this is the case, then I agree with Kevin's objection. It is bascially fretwork, and if a category is desired to be made for "Portraits," I would see that as a subcategory of fretwork.

[zoozoo2]

Shawn, I agree with you abut a sub-category. The main problem with that is if two many categories are created it becomes cost effective for the picnics. The other problem is if only a couple of people enter each category are awards to be given to all? this is a problem the picnics have dealt with for years. If only a few enter the category does it cheapen the ribbon? six of one and six of another. I don't know the answer for that. I have heard from many scrollers over the years about making sub-categories for Intarsia, but that opens up an entirely different can of worms. thanks for your imput. toby

[zoozoo2]

Shawn, I forgot to answer the other question. concerning the entry form for a contest. That would have been the contest run in Texas earlier this year by the DFW scrollers. the contest was not run by SAW, we just had a booth there. Hope that clears it up for you. toby

[BobD]

The main problem with that is if two many categories are created it becomes cost effective for the picnics.

I think you mean it would become too costly rather than cost effective. If it were cost effective, there would be no problem creating the categories.

Bob