Donated to Project 2008

Brenda DeJoice – Woodbury, TN

Brenda DeJoice grew up amongst a family of cross-talented artists possessing natural creative skills in a wide range of arts and music. Pencil sketching from the time she was a child through high school, she put her creativity on hold for three decades while juggling family life and career.
    Intrigued by the intricately burned designs on an early 1900s Flemish Art ladies hair ribbons box, she researched the art of pyrography (woodburning) and burned her first piece from basswood found on the family property. Her hobby soon became a passion, although short-lived due to family and career demands.
    In 2005, she took her woodburner out of the moth balls and started again, and now, with a less ambitious schedule and more balanced lifestyle, has sworn never to put down the hot tool again.
    Brenda uses a solid point tool with a universal tip, and gets her inspiration from wonders of nature and the animal kingdom. She burns woods such as Basswood, Baltic Birch, and Italian Poplar as well as some lesser known species like American Sycamore and Lacewood. She recently brought out a new line of framed pieces burned on exotic veneer off-cuts, as thin as a business card. While most commissions are burned on plaque type wood, either free-standing or frameable, she also creates unique cigar box purses and her hallmark pyrographed wooden albums, commemorating births, marriages and other occasions.
    Brenda’s pieces are on display in the Sutton’s Museum and Arts Gallery in historic Granville, TN, and in the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville. She was featured in a “Tennessee Crossroads” TV episode which aired on Nashville Public Television. More of her albums, purses, and plaques can be seen in the online galleries on her website at www.blazinengravins.com.