Silhouette swaps over the internet

This page is an on-going project, if you happen to be a proffessional silhouettist reading these words and would like to take part do please get in touch. I'll send you my photo & you send me yours!

Karl Johnson

Karl Johnson is an American artist from Georgia. We met on the internet and made this "virtual swap" in April 1997. It was the first of my internet swaps, and started a new hobby for me. This is the result:

Me, by Karl Johnson	Karl Johnson, by me

Karl Johnson learnt the art from his father, who in turn learnt from Paul Kruger, a travelling silhouettist of the 1930's. Karl works as a full time silhouette artist in South Carolina, while his father Edward continues to ply his scissors for the tourists on "Look Out Mountain" in Georgia. This kind of family tradition is still one of the main ways in which the skills of the silhouettist are passed from generation to generation today.

Mona Worley, Colorado

Mona Worley runs a real "silhouette parlour" in Estes Park, Colorado. She uses an old style camera obscura to trace out her images before she cuts them. This kind of device was in fairly common use in 19th century America, but it was a revelation to me to find one still in use! Theoretically it should lead to a photographically accurate rendering, but for some reason "camera obscura" silhouettes often lack somewhat in character. This swap, which we made in July 1997, seems to illustrate this.

Mona thinks my portrait of her makes her a little too "rotund". Sorry Mona! Hopefully I'll get to Colorado one day so that we can meet in person and put things right. That's the trouble with internet swaps, you can never be quite sure of the way people look from a photo!

Me, by Mona Worley	Mona Worley, by me

Connie Squires, Indiana

I made this swap in June 1997. Connie was just starting out in her career as a silhouettist, but we had some fun with this swap! Connie was working then on quite a large scale, this profie measures all of 5 inches high, dwarfing my cutting of her! Since then Connie tells me her silhouettes have become a lot smaller, and she has made quite a success of a silhouette cutting program in Indiana schools. She is perhaps better known for her paper-cuttings of historical buildings.

Me, by Connie Squires	Connie Squires, by me

Marie Cook, Iowa

Marie and I exchanged these cuttings in January 1998. At that time she had been cutting silhouettes for twenty-eight years! A silhouettist called Laurene Rose Diehl from Waterloo, Iowa helped her to get started, and her work is profeusely embellished with slash cutting. Her work also illustrates an American tradition of making "signature cuts" at the bust line. See the letter "M" cut into the base of each profile? Apparently she's been collecting the names of silhouette cutters for years and has a good collection of silhouettes herself. She presently cuts at fairs, shopping centers, banks, church bazaars, and schools. Me, by Marie (48k jpeg)

My picture of her is a negative image of the white copy in my duplicate album. Hence the white lettering and numbers! I forgot to scan the original before I sent it to Marie.

Debbie Roberts, Ohio

After a long break from internet swaps Debbie e-mailed me out of the blue in search of silhouette paper. I couldn't help her with that, but we did end up exchanging these profiles! Debbie had originally heard of me through a Shintaido friend of mine, whom she met quite by chance on a plane!
April 2002.

Debbie, by me, on the left, and Debbie's picture of me on the right

SCONE (Silhouette Cutters Of New England)

This is a group of lady silhouettists who work in the New England area. Here are my swaps with two of them, which we completed in 2003.

Carol Lesbaux by me, on the left, and Carol's picture of me on the right

Joy Anne MacConnell by me, on the left, and Joy Anne's picture of me on the right

Beth Pray

Beth Pray is a professional silhouettist, now based in New York state. She started out as one of the Disneyland Artists, but has been working independantly for many years, making appearances all over the eastern USA. She got in touch with me via this website, and we made this swap soon afterwards in March 2005

Beth Pray by me, on the left, and Beth's picture of me on the right

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