Sisters youths grand champions of intarsia

Intarsia might be a lost art, except for those artists and craftsmen who continue to feel its beauty so strongly they have to keep teaching it.

Marvin Benson is one such teacher.

Eight of Benson's 4-H students returned from the Oregon State Fair as Grand Champions in their woodworking division (which Marvin Benson says should be "wood art," not "woodworking.")

That's what intarsia is really all about: artistically inlaying sections of wood within a solid stone matrix of floors and walls or table tops and other furniture. It is thought that the word "intarsia" is derived from the Latin word, interserere which means "to insert."

Marvin started the intarsia group by making sure they were well versed in the safety of using the variety of wood-working tools necessary to create the forms and reach the final product. Then he helped them lay out the pattern that would be the final product. From that point on, it was up to the students to choose the wood and work it up in a way that would best represent what they saw in their mind's eye.

Most of the patterns the children used were stock art forms, but one young man, Anson Ricker, wanted to create something more personal and chose his sweet old black lab Bella. With Marvin's help and a photo of the dog, they made a pattern, from which Anson created a beautiful intarsia image of his pal.

The 4-H kids used a beautiful variety of woods from throughout the world: rosewood from Brazil, wenge from Africa, mahogany from the Philippines, a variety of maples and poplars from North America.

Juunelle Hogan used an attractive piece of spalted maple from Ohio as the base for her intarsia "Rooster Clock," and then inserted wenge, bloodwood, poplar, cherry, mahogany and other maples.

Each child spent from three to six months creating their wood art form while attending the weekly 4-H meetings in the Benson woodworking shop at the Sisters airport. But 12-year-old Cammi Benson from Sisters (who attends an online, virtual academy) worked on her intarsia "Toucan" every day for three weeks to complete it, using maple, cherry, and canary walnut.

Derek Miller, a 12-year-old homeschooler from Bend, had a difficult time getting home with his "Raccoon" art (held in the picture above by Marvin Benson) as the officials at the Oregon State Fair wanted to keep it as a permanent piece in the fair offices.

Alexander Hogan, 15, another homeschooler, had a wonderful time with his intarsia he named "Trout." It was a grand champion at the Deschutes County Fair, and was awarded the same level at state. He thought it was because of the thought and care he put into the wood he chose for the body of the fish. One could not help but see the distinct life-like color change from the dorsal side of the fish to the ventral.

The students love "Grumpy" (their affectionate name for Marvin). For his part, he returns the love and respect of his charges, and is quick to point out that without the help of his life-partner, Trine, and daughter-in-law Julie Benson, things wouldn't go as smoothly as they do.