The Lost Trades Fair Australia was established to present and celebrate rare and lost trades, and the incredible artisans and real makers, their skills, incredible craftsmanship and share their knowledge. Silhouettes By Hand's artist Lauren Muney was invited to travel from her home of Baltimore, Maryland, USA to Australia - over 24 hours of travel, spread over two days - to demonstrate the rare historical trade of silhouette portraiture.
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Lauren Muney of Silhouettes By Hand mentioned in NPR article on historical skills
Lauren Muney, silhouette artist of of Silhouettes By Hand, was mentioned in National Public Radio (NPR)'s article on modern people continuing historic skills. Read an excerpt of the article here, and follow the link to the full article.
Read moreLauren Muney Profiled in Early American Life Magazine
Lauren Muney of Silhouettes By Hand was profiled in Early American Life magazine for its Feb 2016 issue. Read the article here (JPG image) or download (PDF format)
Read moreBlack silhouette artist and entrepreneur Moses Williams in early America
Moses Williams was an African-American profile cutter in the household of world-renown portrait artist and first museum entrepreneur Charles Willson Peale, in the early 19th century. Moses was initially a slave, the child of slaves who were given to Peale possibly as payment for a portrait. Moses was treated as one of the family, and then manumitted (freed) by Peale in 1802. Moses showed extraordinary skill at creating profile portraits
Read moreHistoric Skills: Hand-Printing on Letterpress
Enclosed here is a brief video that shows a meditative and satisfying historic trade (craft or profession): printing. As the title says, I consider the video a love-letter to printing. There are fewer work to more more peaceful than working this press.
Read more"Silhouettes By Hand" on NPR
Silhouettes By Hand debuted on the radio in December 2013 on the National Public Radio station WYPR
Read moreSilhouettes Interactivity at Museum
When the doll's silhouette portrait time came, the little girl enthusiastically held the dolly on her lap, to create a side profile view for the portrait.
Read moreVictorian Silhouettes
Many people ask, "Do you create Victorian silhouettes"?
The answer is yes. My silhouette portraits can be considered 'Victorian' silhouettes. I create handmade silhouette portraits that span over 200 years. However here in the United States, we actually didn't have a technical "Victorian" era. We just didn't have Queen Victoria as our Queen, since we weren't British citizens anymore.
Lauren Muney named in Renowned Traditional Artist Directory
Silhouettes By Hand's Lauren Muney has been named to the Early American Life Magazine's Directory of Traditional Crafts for both 2013 and 2014, an honor bestowed on a handful of artisans who work in traditional media, styles, and crafts. The Directory presents a selection of the best historically informed handwork in America today.
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