Cape Town artist harnesses the power of the sun
Herman Fick creates images using the sun and a magnifying glass. He creates the two-toned images by burning onto wooden boards. Picture: Tracey Adams African News Agency (ANA)
Cape Town - A Cape Town artist is harnessing the power of the sun to create art by using a magnifying glass and pieces of wood.
Hermann Fick, 52, from Kensington, found a new passion during lockdown having had a long-time interest in drawing. With a love for wood work, he discovered the idea of magnifying sun art online.
The first art piece he made with this method was for a friend who is a mechanic named Mark Dehahn, in April.
“He asked me to draw a mechanic’s quote on a piece of wood that stated, ’I did not become a mechanic, I was born one’,” he said.
At first he made use of a soldering iron to burn the letters into the wood, but realised that it took longer to get the desired result. “I Googled some ideas and saw someone with a magnifying glass. I got a magnifying glass and started from there and couldn't stop myself,” said Fick.
Initially making art was not to generate income, but to keep busy.
“When people started asking about portraits, they wanted different sizes such as A4 and A3,” he said.
A post circulated on social media about his artwork. This helped Fick to work towards starting a charged service for the portraits this month.
With the economic impact of the pandemic affecting the construction industry he has been home since January. He does a few construction jobs, but his art is sustaining him.
He began working on portraits in November, with an image of his daughter Zoe Fick, 21.
“I downloaded the application called Adobe Capture, where you use personal pictures to turn it into black and white images. I used Zoe’s photo and printed it out at PostNet. I started doing tracing the image onto the wood and used a magnifying glass to burn in the image with the sun,” he explained.
He made use of wood from a hardware store in Brooklyn and uses the offcuts for the images.
“If they don’t have them, then I buy cut pieces. I use the blue paper that you get in an invoice book which creates a blue outline on the wood,” said Fick.
Fick grew up in Retreat and went to Beacon Hill High School where he took art as a subject.
He said he would start worrying about his art when winter comes and the sun disappears. “I will have to think of another way to make the art,” he added.
His wife Margo said she was excited and happy for her husband.
“Wherever this is going to take him, he is a nice guy and he deserves this. He likes art and wood, so if you can do something that comes naturally, I am all for it. People can see the talent that he has,” she said.