Comedy and Tragedy

This is the piece I finished this week based on an original design by Christina & Wayne Prinn. Twenty-five pieces of wood were cut, shaped, and fitted together to create this artwork. The wood varieties used in this piece are North American aspen, East Indian satin wood (yellow heart), South American purple heart, South African bloodwood, and North American walnut.


Comedy and tragedy masks are sometimes referred to as theatre masks or drama masks. They have been adopted as the universal symbol for theatre. The origins stem from ancient Greece when actors always wore masks on stage.

I put two hangers on this piece so it can be hung to emphasize comedy (above) or tragedy (right).

What is Intarsia?

Intarsia is defined as a mosaic of fitted pieces of wood or stone. Some experts believe it originated in the Islamic world, while others claim Egyptian origins. As a distinct art form, it dates back to the 13th century in Italy and was perfected during the 15th century Italian Renaissance in Siena and in northern Italy. It spread to German centers and introduced into London by Flemish craftsmen in the later 16th century. By the late 17th century, the intarsia art form had just about disappeared, replaced by marquetry, a similar process which inlays thin veneers of wood together. The intarsia art form of fitting thicker pieces of wood was revived in the late 20th century.

Modern intarsia has added a third dimension to its predecessor. In renaissance-era intarsia, pieces were flat. In modern intarsia, individual pieces are shaped to give a three-dimensional look to the overall piece. Unlike segmentation, in which all pieces are cut from the same wood and then painted or stained, intarsia relies solely on the natural colors of the wood to create a palette. No stains or dyes have been used on any of my pieces, only a clear polyurethane finish (more about that in a future post).

The Beginning

A blog has to begin somewhere, right? Well here we are. I have had a website up for a while now to share some of my artwork. But keeping a website up to date is a little more than I can handle right now, so I thought a blog would be a perfect way to keep up.

This blog will be about my experiences in creating intarsia art pieces. I discovered intarsia about ten years ago and it has become a permanent part of my life.