Gunnie le Roux

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       Contact me at:

Phone:     021-8533321(h) 021-8504337(w)

Fax:          021-8504377

Cell:          084-3333053

Email:       Gunnie.Le_Roux@capetown.gov.za

Website:  

Intarsia is thought to have been developed during the thirteenth century Renaissance period in Sienna, Italy and was also practiced to a limited extent in eighteenth century Japan, Imperial Rome, Egypt and Persia. The Intarsia process was derived from the Middle Eastern art of ivory inlays upon wood. The 14th century French art of wood marquetry also played a vital part in later years towards the perfection of Intarsia as a unique art that could hold it's own amongst the various visual art forms.

Intarsia is the process of using the natural colours, grain direction and textures of different types of wood to recreate 3 D images of a wide variety of subjects. i.e., wildlife, sea life etc. The various pieces are cut from the selected stock, raised or lowered according to required depth and then contoured to ' flow ' from the one piece to the adjacent pieces to create a lifelike image of the subject.

The 'mosaic' is then glued together and fixed to a backer board for extra strength , sanded to perfection using different grades of steel wool and finally finished with up to seven coats of a superior grade of wood sealer or Danish oils. The eyes get an extra coat of clear laquer to breath life into the subject.

The art of Intarsia was revived and improved upon to its current form in the seventies thanks to the efforts by dedicated artists like Jerry Booher and Judy Gale Roberts from the USA, the latter having inspired me in the late nineties to try my hand at the unique art of Intarsia.

I currently make use of the following types of wood , amongst others, in creating my intarsia pieces:

Yellow Wood, Stinkwood, Ash, Oak, Imbuia, Walnut, Teak, Karri, Beech, Cedar, Cottonwood, Wild pear, Cherry.

Last Updated 08 June 2008 22:37