Hand Painted Shelf by Artists Claudia and Perry Hopf


Item Number: 162

Time Left: CLOSED

Value: $115

Online Close: Oct 31, 2012 10:00 PM EDT

Bid History: 11 bids - Item Sold!



Description

The hand painted shelf is 12 inches high at the back, 4.5 inches deep, and 14 inches across. The colors are earthy greens and browns. The pattern of swirls and concentric circles create a fascinating and bold image, while the back has a combed paint faux-wood grain pattern. This lightweight shelf would be wonderful for holding knick-knacks, candles, or other types of home decor!

Special Instructions

About Claudia Hopf (From http://www.thewrightgallery.com/hopf_bio.html)


A graduate of the University of Cincinnati with a B.S. in design, with post graduate work at the Arts Academy of Cincinnati and the University of Oxford Ohio, Claudia has published four books on scherenschnitte, two of them pattern books. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and shows from the East coast to California. Her work hangs in the Library of Congress and is represented in collections in France, Germany, Switzerland, Africa, England, Australia, and Canada.

Claudia became interested in the craft of scherenschnitte when she was in Pennsylvania where Carroll was director of the Pennsylvania Farm Museum of Landis Valley. Although she had been interested in many crafts and processes, she became so intrigued with a scherenschnitte birth certificate that came to the museum, that she learned the skill and has devoted herself to the art full time since 1967.

Each tiny leaf and thin stem is hand cut and hand painted in the intricate designs of Claudia Hopf's scherenschnitte, the art of painted paper cutwork. A favorite pet, animals of all kinds, flowers, people doing everyday things, can be the focus for the picture Claudia skillfully creates or it can be a document of a special event such as a birth or marriage certificate. Each scherenschnitte begins with Claudia drawing the design of the scene, which can be of any size. Perry, Claudia and Carroll Hopf's son, then uses surgical scissors for the actual intricate cutwork carefully snipping around each detail in the picture. It then goes back to Claudia for painting. Placed against a black background, the finished design is framed by her husband Carroll, in one of his grain-painted wood frames.

The crafts of the Hopfs were a feature of Country Home Magazine, April 1998, Early American Life, August 1988, Country Home's Folkcrafts, June 1994 and Country Living, December 1996.