A sense of humor enlivens an ancient art

By CHERYL B. WILSON Bulletin Contributing Writer

Published on January 09, 2009

The Pioneer Valley is home to many fine woodworkers, whose furniture is found in museums and private collections across the country. Still, even in this company, Silas Kopf stands out. His specialty is marquetry, the ancient art of creating inlay pictures with small pieces of wood, stone or metal.

In his studio in Easthampton, tulips and irises with subtle shading adorn a chest. A turtle surfaces in a pond on the leg of a piano. A sly fox slinks across the side of a cabinet. A man lovingly plays a violin. It is hard to believe that all these intricate vignettes are created by using tiny pieces of wood.

Kopf has been doing marquetry for more than 35 years. He works with a myriad of woods from native maple and walnut to exotic ebony, brazilwood, chactecoc, narra and bocote from the tropics.

"Part of the reason for using tropical woods is that we need a broader palette," he explained. Maple, birch, oak and ash are pale woods. Walnut is the darkest native hue. Tropical woods offer deeper browns and blacks as well as reddish tones.

His studio, Silas Kopf Woodworking, where Tom Coughlin has worked on the furniture with him for more than a decade, is located in the Old Firehouse in Easthampton. Huge glass windows fill the former arched doorways for the fire engines, and the door to Kopf's office still has a sign reading "Chief."

The spacious studio contains well-maintained equipment and large benches for finishing work. There are big bins for stacking wood and shelves for the delicate veneers. Kopf said exotic veneer is relatively easy to obtain. "You can roll it up and put it in a box and ship it," he said, adding, "I've gotten a sort of collector's mania" about veneers.

One problem with the pre-cut veneers, however, is that they are extremely thin. For thicker pieces Kopf has to saw his own. He has a supplier in Greenfield for native and exotic woods.

For most of the meticulous cutting of marquetry pieces, Kopf uses a scroll saw with a blade so thin it looks like a piece of thread or, at most, a sewing- machine needle. It is almost impossible to see the tiny teeth on the saw. He usually tilts the saw table to create a beveled edge on his small pieces so they fit together well.

Kopf demonstrated his technique for a visitor. First he sketched a three-part leaf on tracing paper, and then transferred the design onto a thin piece of veneer, using carbon paper.

The next step was to use the scroll saw to cut the first piece. Then he flipped the light-colored veneer over and cut a second piece to match the first, with the grain going in the opposite direction. Next he cut the third piece in a reddish veneer.

Finally he attached the entire design to an underlay, again using the scroll saw. To hold the pieces together during this operation he used masking tape and carpenter's glue. The final product was a simple, two-toned, elegant leaf against a dark background, with the wood grain highlighted.

A two-part process

Creating a piece of marquetry furniture involves two separate operations: the construction of the furniture piece and the marquetry adornment. Nearly all of Kopf's work during his long career has been in wood. "Everyone can relate to wood," he said. "It's almost in our DNA."

But recently he has experimented with other materials such as shell, stone and metal. His latest creation is a pair of cabinet panels that sport a self-portrait of Kopf on a tropical beach, wearing a colorful Hawaiian shirt and holding a conch shell to his ear. The work is titled "Is Anyone Paying Attention?"

One panel is done in wood with the conch shell made of abalone, while the other is done in bright stones, including turquoise and lapis lazuli as well as abalone, mother of pearl, brass, copper and silver. The shirt in the wood-marquetry piece is rust-red while in the stone work it is bright blue.

"I've long wanted to do work in stone and metal," he said. But it turned out to be twice as hard as working with wood. "There is as much work in the shirt as in the face," he said.

Once the marquetry picture is completed, Kopf smoothes the entire panel with sandpaper on a cork block. Then he applies a finish coat of lacquer, which is water-resistant. He said it never needs polishing or waxing, just dusting.

"I try to impart a little humor in my work," he said. His cabinet "Urban Theme: Life is a Rat Race" is adorned with dozens of small animals, obviously rats. He said his gallery representative in New York finally told prospective buyers that the little creatures were gerbils.

Kopf's sense of humor extends to his self-portraits. In one he is gnawing on a piece of wood, symbolic of the carrot he was trying to eat discreetly during a cabaret performance. In another he is brushing his teeth. He said it would be fun to have an exhibition of all his self-portrait cabinets, showing the aging process. "I'm grayer, balder and fatter," he said.

Shown at the Smithsonian

Kopf's work is displayed in galleries in New York City and Philadelphia and it doesn't come with Wal-Mart prices. A small cabinet may cost $6,000 while a stunning oval piece with a marquetry fox and hens sold to the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution for $60,000. Several years ago Kopf crafted a marquetry surface for a Steinway piano to benefit the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods. It featured vignettes of wild flowers, turtles and a portrait of Thoreau himself. The piano was auctioned in New York for more than half a million dollars.

The recent economic downturn may affect Kopf adversely in the future, he said. "Clearly it is having an effect on the art market," he said last week. He reported that one New York gallery had a very successful show a year ago, earning a quarter million dollars in sales, but this year the same artist was able to sell only one piece for just a few thousand.

Kopf came to Easthampton more than 30 years ago as a resident at the New England School of Woodworking and the Leeds Design Studio. He already had an architecture degree from Princeton University and had spent two years as an apprentice to the acclaimed furniture maker Wendell Castle, though his work differs markedly from Castle's.

"It may have been deliberate or maybe reaction to his work," Kopf said. "I needed to forge my own style."

But Castle's workshop did include equipment for marquetry and Kopf began to experiment. He bought himself a good book and followed directions. "We don't have a tradition in America of marquetry," he explained. "You have to go to the European and English craftsmen."

In 1998 Kopf went to Paris to study at the Ecole Boulle, on a National Endowment for the Arts grant.

"Marquetry goes back to the 16th century," he said. "I like historical marquetry especially the Art Nouveau era. I have developed or adapted ancient techniques with modern tools." Upon returning from France he made his own machine for creating boulle, a specialized form of marquetry.

Kopf, a tall man with a slight stoop, is a born teacher as well as an outstanding craftsman. He made a DVD a few years ago, "The Master Techniques of Marquetry," which has sold 3,500 copies. A review in Fine Woodworking said, "It is a fulfilling visual and educational experience delivered in a friendly, conversational tone."

His latest venture is a book, "A Marquetry Odyssey," a history of marquetry from a technical point of view. It includes explanations of ancient techniques with gorgeous pictures of museum pieces along with demonstrations of his own work photographed by local photographer Dave Ryan. The book sells for $60 and the video for $25. Both are available on Kopf's Web site www.silaskopf.com.

Fine furniture is a true work of art and Silas Kopf has made a national reputation for his marquetry work, which is sought by knowledgeable collectors. With his book and his video he is inspiring others to follow in his footsteps.

Cheryl Wilson can be reached at valleygardens@comcast.net.