Cinders: Burned, Scorched, and Pyrographed Works in Wood

Cinders: Burned, Scorched, and Pyrographed Works in Wood presents artworks that revel in the incendiary properties of wood as a medium. Illustrated across twenty-six objects by twenty-two artists and largely drawn from the Museum’s permanent collection, Cinders delves into the enigmatic tension between permanence and fragility that materializes in fire-treated wood. The durability of charred wood can be witnessed in Japan where the scorching technique yakisugi has preserved wooden architecture for four hundred years. When scorched, the surface of wood strengthens to resist sources of decay ranging from moisture to infestation from fungus and insects. However, when an artist lingers with a blowtorch or woodburning pen, they encounter the fragility of this material and the possibility that only cinders will remain.

Installed in the gallery of the Fleur and Charles Bresler Research Library at the Museum for Art in Wood, this exhibition presents works of installation, sculpture, and woodturning that experiment with the generative possibilities of fire. From the delicate surface decorations of pyrography to the sensual sheen of scorching, Cinders invites visitors to consider the creative but fraught threshold before combustion.

Artists:
Steve Bishop; Christian Burchard; Miriam Carpenter; Gaynor Dowling and Malcom Martin; Melissa Engler; Ashley Eriksmoen, Amy Forsyth, Katie Hudnall, Betty Scarpino, Michaela Crie Stone, and Nucharin Wangphongsawasd; Giles Gilson; Morgan Hill; Todd Hoyer; Dennis Mueller; Jim Partridge; Andrew Potocnik; Graeme Priddle; Jack Slentz; Hayley Smith; John H. Williams.

Cinders: Burned, Scorched, and Pyrographed Works in Wood is generously supported by the Cambium Giving Society of the Museum for Art in Wood, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Bresler Foundation, The Klorfine Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and Windgate Foundation.