Emile Norman experimented with traditional wood inlay techniques like this to create his trademark style.
Emile Norman was a notable sculptor whose work challenged and redefined traditional notions about wood sculpture and wood inlays. He often used unconventional materials and techniques to create unique and highly-prized artworks known for the meticulous attention to detail in them. Norman was also noted for using natural wood colors and homemade epoxy in his work.
The Endomosaic Process
Emile Norman incorporated other materials into wood inlays. These included metal, felt, silk, linen, parchment, shells, gravel, vegetable matter and sea life. The use of these materials created detailed patterns and imagery through the arrangement of variously-colored and textured fragments. All of the fragments and materials were suspended between clear sheets of translucent plastic. The outcome of this process created an inlay that was opaque in some parts and clear or semi-clear in others. Norman's most famous endomosaic work is the large decorative window in the Masonic Memorial Temple in San Francisco, but many other examples of his trademark style were commissioned during his lifetime.
Three-Dimensional Inlays
Norman experimented with three-dimensional sculptures constructed from small segments of wood and other materials. Having first created a center for the sculpture-to-be out of wax, he would then assemble the sculpture around the wax, layering and arranging mosaic patterns together over the wax form. Later, when the wax was melted away, the remaining sculptures appeared to be constructed around a hollow center, and had a three-dimensional depth that was not normally attainable in traditional wood sculpture and inlay.
Cloisonne Inlays
To arrange wood in cloisonne-like patterns, Norman employed an admixture of multiple materials. In addition to wood, these inlays contained plastic, crushed glass and epoxy-resins and were highly ornamental when finished. These inlays were made from more specifically-shaped and arranged fragments than were his endomosaic inlays, and when finished had a design and appearance similar to stained glass.
