Pyrography

On Saturday I had the pleasure of taking a class with my mom and aunt (and my second grade teacher!) at the Woodson Art Museum. The museum has been one of my favorite places since taking field trips there during grade school, and my own children have fond memories of the sculpture garden and various children's literature exhibits over the years.

Our class was taught by Julie Bender, an artist-in-residence for the week, and the focus was pyrography - using burning tools to create images on various surfaces. Though the nuthatch I burned into a piece of maple was not stellar, I did love listening to Julie describe her artistic process. The piece on display for this year's Birds in Art exhibit is called Going My Way? and was created after her visit to a friend's farm and a rooster named Huey. She used 300 pound hot press watercolor paper and her burning tool. Most interesting as the the dirt (under her arm, unfortunately) was made by putting sand under the paper and burning around it. She urged the class members to touch the canvas! The museum staff shook their heads.

Julie was a delightful guide and interesting teacher - and she emphasized that getting books from the library is a great way to learn more about pyrography!