Charles Burns, Silhouettist

Other Artistic Entertainer

(3 Reviews)

Country: United Kingdom
Based In: Reading, South East
Performs: Worldwide
From: £1250

On-the-spot portrait silhouettes of your guests, cut freehand with scissors from back paper in about two minutes each. Based in London available to perform at Weddings, Parties & Corporate Events Worldwide.

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Description

A silhouette artist work on the move, carrying all the materials he needs for his art in specially-made pockets in his jacket. This means he is quite a home in a wide variety of situations: mixing with the guests at a reception or working around the tables during the courses of a dinner. Guests are asked to pose - quite literally for one minute - while the artist produces a pair of surgical scissors and expertly cuts their exact profile at a speed most people simply cannot believe. When held up to the light the likeness is instantly recognisable, to the amazement of all. As a final presentatio ... n the silhouette is fixed into a smartly-printed wallet card (which can be pre-printed with a corporate logo or silhouettes of a bride and groom) and handed to the guest as a souvenir before the artist moves on the find his next subject.

Biography

UK-based silhouette artists Michael Herbert and Charles Burns have each been working as "The Roving Artist" for nearly fifteen years, brought together by a shared interest in the forgotten English art of silhouette cutting. They have taken this lost art and re-invented it for the 21st century, combining traditional skill with modern and stylish presentation. They work at a wide range of events all over the world, as far afield as Rio de Janeiro and Marrakech. it is not unusual for Michael to find himself at a wedding in Italy while Charles is working at a product launch in Birmingham, UK. They ... also run workshops and give talks, while Charles has written a book on the subject: Mastering Silhouettes, published in 2012.

Reviews (3 Reviews)

Charles Burns, Silhouettist - Other Artistic Entertainer - Reading, South East Event Location: London Event Type: Birthday party 13th May 2016

My three daughters arranged for Charles to attend a surprise 60th for my wife and he did a superb job mingling among the guests to give every one of the seventy friends a silhouette to go home with. Definitely an original addition to the party and he then kindly sent us one big picture of everyone , which we have had framed.

Reviewed by: Lewis

Charles Burns, Silhouettist - Other Artistic Entertainer - Reading, South East Event Location: London Event Type: Wedding 16th January 2016

My husband and I used yourself for our wedding and rather than using the silhouettes on a wedding cake we had all our guests portraits cut for our favours. It went down an absolute treat, was a great talking point, and even all these years later people still have their silhouettes on display at home! Thank you

Reviewed by: Emma Waldram-McCabe

Charles Burns, Silhouettist - Other Artistic Entertainer - Reading, South East Event Location: Birmingham Event Type: Wedding 20th November 2015

We were “silhouetted” at a wedding last year – it was such a lovely thing to do and we now have an exquisite memento of the event. There is always a lot of hanging about at weddings isn’t there and making small talk with a mixed assemblage of people is great as far as it goes. Having Charles working through the gathering, his quick fingers and keen observation of his subject making it a delight to watch. Thanks for making the day so special for all of us.

Reviewed by: Sue Evans

Experience

Charles Burns has appeared at all kinds of venues - too numerous to mention - and cut over 150,000 profiles, including two portraits of the Queen, one of President Clinton (while visiting the National Portrait Gallery), the Duke of Edinburgh, and any number of TV personalities, writers, artists and sporting celebrities.

Suitable for

Bar / Bat Mitzvah Birthday Party (Adult) Casinos Christening Christmas Party Cocktail Party / Drinks Reception Conference / Meeting Corporate Event Dinner Party Jewish Wedding Private Party Product Launch / Promotion Trade Show / Exhibitions

Additional Information

Insured for Public Liability

Virtual Services Offer

Silhouette cutting at online events

Charles can appear via a Zoom link to cut 2-minute silhouette portraits of all your guests.
He does this by pinning the video of each guest in turn and asking them to pose in profile as the rest of chat. Each silhouette is held up to the screen for all to admire.
After the event he will scan all the silhouettes and send it you as a single image file for you to share with everybody there. This usually takes 20 minutes or so after he leaves the event, so it you're all still chatting you can share it right away over Zoom!
The next day all the silhouettes will be mounted onto card and posted to you for to send to all your guests.
Preparation needed: none.

Online silhouette workshop

Silhouette artist Charles Burns will challenge our guests to have a go at cutting silhouettes of each other over Zoom!
This interactive 15-minute workshop is a lot of fun, not least because the silhouettes themselves will be hilariously bad.
At the start of the event Charles will pick one of your guests and demonstrate how to cut a silhouette portrait wit scissors. He will then pair up all the guests, one with another, and talk them though the process of cutting one out themselves.
Afterwards, all the guests have a lot of fun showing others what they managed to achieve. Some will be surprisingly good while others barely human!
Preparation: before the event we will mail a 'silhouette kit' consisting of two mounting cards, some black paper and a pair of scissors to each participant. The mounting cards can optionally be branded with your own message.