Silhouette cutting by Charles Burns
Today, the making of silhouettes is synonymous with paper cutting. However, this was not always so. Silhouettists of the past were intent on the capturing of shadows, the medium was secondary to this end. Continue reading ” Mixed-media silhouettes of buildings”
Last Wednesday I picked up an eighteenth-century silhouette by Isabella Beetham. Beetham is a well-known Georgian artist and her work is much prized by collectors today. She is something of a feminist icon. Continue reading “A silhouette of Marie Antoinette”
In the midst of the referendum debate I would like to draw your attention to the European Art of the Silhouette. Every so often I am asked to appear as a guest speaker about silhouettes and their history. Continue reading “The European Art of the Silhouette”
Silhouette Secrets seems off to a flying start. We took part in two film festivals towards the end of 2015 and have applied for many more this year. The first two festivals were the Marbella International Film Festival, where we were nominated for Best Documentary, and NiFF Houston, where we won the Best Documentary Award. Continue reading “First festival successes”
During 2015 I noticed a lot of couples adding a wedding cake silhouette to their cakes. This is a great way to bring the theme of silhouette into the wedding. Some of the cakes are really creative. Continue reading “Wedding cake silhouettes”
I’ve just got back from two days cutting silhouettes at Whitby Goth Weekend. What an event, I think I must be a closet Goth! Continue reading “Whitby Goth weekend”
The film is out! I seem to have spent most of my time this summer cooped up in the editing room with Andi, making the final cut of Silhouette Secrets. Silhouette Secrets is a one-hour documentary film in which a modern-day silhouette artist (me) takes a journey back in time to explore the history of his shadowy art. He asks the question: “Where did it come from?”
While in America last year, filming for the documentary ‘Silhouette Secrets’, we visited Philadelphia to study a 200-year-old automatic silhouette-making machine. On the way my mind lapsed and I found myself driving on the wrong side of the road. Continue reading “Arrest of an Artist”
If you can manage to get an hour or two away from the office next week I recommend you make your way down to Old Billingsgate market to see our silhouette badges. The Square Meal ‘Venues and Events’ show is once again taking place. The silhouette-artist stand is on the bridge, stand no M7. You may come away with your own silhouette in a badge.
After visiting Houston the Silhouette Secrets film crew were invited to a lunch by SCONE. We met “Silhouette Cutters of New England” at the Wayside Inn, near Boston. We knew nothing of the Wayside Inn’s history or it’s connection with the art of silhouette.
The thing which most struck me after the “Off With Your Head!” speed-cutting contest was just how entertaining it had all been. With Cindi Rose and I cutting back-to-back, silhouettes began filling the room within minutes. Everybody went away with at least one portrait and most got two. Continue reading “Speed cutting secrets”
There seems to be a certain ambiguity over the silhouette speed cutting world record. The main item on our US agenda was a trip to Houston to meet the world’s fastest silhouette artist. Cindi Harwood Rose holds this record, which stands at 144 silhouettes cut in one hour. The film will end with me going to Houston to challenge it. There’s only one problem: nobody seems to know the result!
