Working With Wood: Intarsia
July 22, 2011 10:37 PM   Subscribe

The art of intarsia was brought back to life primarily by Judy Gale Roberts in the early 1980's. Practiced in earlier times by artists such as fra Damiano da Bergamo, the technique is similar to marquetry. Intarsia is made by cutting different pieces of wood to shape, and sanding to fit them together tightly. Incredibly complex bas-relief pieces have been made by artists such as Kathy Wise.
posted by dibblda (10 comments total) 16 users marked this as a favorite
 
fab!...you wouldn't happen to be familiar with the work of Kit Williams, would you?
posted by sexyrobot at 11:18 PM on July 22, 2011


Only in passing, I'll take a closer look at his work. Thanks!
posted by dibblda at 11:35 PM on July 22, 2011


The stone wall version of this art produces things of great beauty. Dry walls / dry dykes / dry hedges - stone walls without mortar.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 1:43 AM on July 23, 2011


Lovely. I really, really want to touch those wood pieces. Amazing work, bespeaks great patience.
posted by kinnakeet at 2:32 AM on July 23, 2011 [1 favorite]


Absolutely beautiful. Thanks so much for posting this.
posted by essexjan at 3:02 AM on July 23, 2011


Every few months Scrollsaw magazine comes out with a new issue, and it always has at least one cool intarsia piece, but I haven't been able to bring myself to try it yet.
posted by drezdn at 4:36 AM on July 23, 2011


Wow. These are great.

I've found the difference between an okay-level intarsia work and a fantastic one is not in the complexity of the pieces, but the attention to individual shape. It's a lot like what makes a truly spectacular piece of stained glass.

If you look at the Kathy Wise works linked in the OP, she's taken the time to imitate the musculature of the big cats with each piece of wood. It really sells the movement.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 9:44 AM on July 23, 2011


Amazing work and an awesome post!
posted by bayani at 12:34 PM on July 23, 2011


Beautiful work! Haven't been through all the links yet, but the baby giraffe by Kathy Wise - love it! So perfect and lifelike.
posted by dorey_oh at 8:04 PM on July 23, 2011


This is great! This totally brought me back to a local artist and developer where I grew up. He would decorate his home and nightclubs in an odd combination of intarsia and Victorian woodwork and stained glass from buildings that had been demolished. It didn't register with most people, but was really something to see.
I am sure all of them are gone now (no one even thought about saving them) and you can't find many images, but it is such a specific and really neat technique.
posted by Tchad at 2:27 PM on July 24, 2011


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