ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Pyrography, known to most of us as woodburning, is rare among arts media, yet from my earliest encounters something about its raw rustic warmth and gentle beauty drew me, and the romance, like first love has stayed with me as I’ve grown. In the subtle organic nuances and sweeping breathy movement in wood I find a deep connection with nature and with the transcendent oneness of life, an intriguing intricate aesthetic in its fabric that adds wonder, mystery and meaning to my art.
Over these twenty-five plus years I’ve explored an array of media and have found several combinations perpetually alluring. The rich flesh tones and deep earthy hues of burning evocatively become the soft textures of portraiture and animal bodies I etch and shade on poplar and maple. The grains of oak, birch, and fir infused with transparent color provide rich tonal underlays - exquisite parallels to the ethereal textures of the misty air and sky, ripples in water, and the undulating stratifications of landscape and terrain. From these precursors I’m drawn to explore a world of derivatives which capture their beauty and blend them into impressionistic harmonies as they are unmoored from their elemental limits in wood. In these freer moments in virtual forms I find myself intrigued with the realization that my subjects seem inherently alive with a touch of the transcendent as they emerge from the grain and the material, and I’m left as I reflect, with a deep awareness of my having collaborated with an Art and Reality beyond my own. For me, these images capture something of the mystery of Creation of which I am a part and are expressions of personal awe at the creative design and beauty so pervasive in the faces and fabric of our world.
To be in nature and to create with her are spiritual experiences for me. As an artist, I find peace and my own faith in nature and a sense of connection with my human family in all its incredible diversity. I feel no greater joy than in finding kinship with others in that bond and with the Source of our art in the stillness.
David Kreider
DEFINITIONS AND TERMS
The following definitions and terms are used throughout these galleries to describe my work and techniques and are linked to this page for reference. Feel free to correspond by email or phone for futher clarification if you have questions about what you are seeing and are interested to learn more.
Original work in wood refers to a rendering on wood usually involving burning and/or transparent colorant applications as described above. Colors are generally home-made stains comprised of pigments in lemon or tung oils, oil pastels, or pencil.
Original graphic arts print refers to a derivative work from one or more precursors or intermediates on wood manipulated through various electronic tools. These derivative works are printed individually by me on an Epson 7800 Stylus printer using Epson's state-of-the-art archival pigmented inks and on museum-quality archival papers and are individually signed by me. Though similar in a family of first-generation images, as individually-printed works each will vary from one to another at my discretion.
Fine art reproduction is a closely-matched image on paper taken from a work on wood initially sold as an original work of art. These images are created either by offset printing press (several of my early works were reproduced by this method under my supervision) or by digital printing on an Epson Stylus Color 7800 using Epson's archival pigmented inks.
Museum or archival quality means 100+ year longevity against deterioration in the quality of the image under "normal interior lighting", and is referenced to a standard used by the Wilhelm Research Institute in the testing of arts media. The inks I use are pigment-based, (as are high-quality artist's paints and preferred to dye-based inks for longevity) and have surpassed the 100-year mark in ongoing testing by the Wilhelm Research Institute.
Pyrogravure colorée is a French term referring to work combining both pyrography, or woodburning, with colorant applications.
|
Home
