A friend approached me a few months ago about creatively altering an old and beat up violin for an auction benefiting a local high school orchestra. I let the violin sit around for a couple months, not knowing what to do with it (and allowing it to gather even more dust).
While I greatly admire designs which can imaginatively reconfigure found forms into something quite different, I really felt that I should not veer much away from the already beautiful form and surface of the violin itself, albeit slightly damaged. Ultimately, I decided to play with the preexisting varnished surface and scratch down to the wood layer below, a process I have enjoyed doing with photographs and intaglio printmaking but never before with a violin.
The design came in stuttered spurts over the last few weeks but was influenced overall by the curved shapes of the violin and the grace I associate with orchestral music. And, well, doesn't everyone like a rose?
While I greatly admire designs which can imaginatively reconfigure found forms into something quite different, I really felt that I should not veer much away from the already beautiful form and surface of the violin itself, albeit slightly damaged. Ultimately, I decided to play with the preexisting varnished surface and scratch down to the wood layer below, a process I have enjoyed doing with photographs and intaglio printmaking but never before with a violin.
The design came in stuttered spurts over the last few weeks but was influenced overall by the curved shapes of the violin and the grace I associate with orchestral music. And, well, doesn't everyone like a rose?
 |  Engraved violin with acrylic paint; strings removed |
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