Matlapeng uses fire for drawing

Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Sunday April 7, 2024 06:00

Pyrography is the art of decorating wood or other materials with burn marks from a heated object, usually a heated pen-like metal tool.

The term ‘pyrography’ comes from the Greek words pur and graphos, meaning ‘writing with fire’. The 37-year-old visual artist creates fine wooden artworks that show a depth of concept and intricate craftsmanship. He says his personal choice is drawing on wood using a soldering iron and using acrylic paints and coloured pencils to add some more details and highlights to his artwork.

“My work is done using soldering iron with different tips for different textures. I use acrylic paints and coloured pencils for details and my choice of material being plywood (shutter board) because it’s made from softwood which is light in colour; therefore making drawings more visible.

Every artwork is vanished to make it weather resistant and waterproof,” he explained For Matlapeng, art is about exploring one’s creative edge without limits, the reason why he chose to go for the lesser-known form of art.

He says the other reason for his choice of media or style was to break away from the commonly used media to show the diversity of art.

Born and raised in Francistown, the talented artist says art has always been a part of his life. “Art has been a part of my life journey from primary school, which influenced me to choose it as one of my subjects at junior school (2001-2003) and later at senior school (2004-2005),” Matlapeng said.

He says he has realised that pyrography is not very common in the country, adding that he has only met one artist who specialises in it in Botswana. Furthermore, he said pyrography is not easy to do as it requires more focus, because one cannot erase any marks made. Additionally, Matlapeng says besides that, there is also the risk of getting one’s fingers burnt and going for days without drawing due to serious injuries. His break would come after he did a pencil drawing of DumaTau Camp’s main area in 2021 when he was working for a company that was doing canvas installation in the camp.

He says the artwork was received positively by the management of the camp and was used on the welcome cards for the guests in the camp. “This led me to do a couple of drawings that I sold to various clients. My journey as a professional or full-time artist began in July 2022 after a lot of influence and positive responses from the clients I had the honour to do some work for and other artists around Botswana the like of (Mr Wilson Ngoni) and others abroad,” he added.

He explains that his artworks are mostly inspired by wildlife that exists in Botswana and beyond its borders, from big cats, mammals and birds. Matlapeng’s dream is to create artworks that will inspire other young talented artists to “live their dreams through their talent” and produce artwork that will reach both local and international markets.

“This is just the beginning of a journey; my work is new in the market and I hope to grow in this type of art and be able to share the skill with others,” he said. Matlapeng’s reference work can be found on his Facebook page @ Prince.M ART.