35″ x 12″ x 2″

Curly maple, sapele, gold. Woodburning by hand

First image credit David Dostie (@dostiephoto)

Lady Oscar (right, first image) and Rose (left, first image) are two functional solid-body electric guitars, made as part of the Maine Craft Apprentice program's 2024 cycle.

In my work, I am often drawn to the idea of fantasy in its many forms. With Lady Oscar and Rose, I explore this through imagery of vines and flowers, inspired as much by the work of renaissance luthiers and the scrollwork of medieval manuscripts as it is by the work of classic shoujo manga artist Riyoko Ikeda.

Named for the protagonists of Ikeda’s The Rose of Versaille - a retelling of the life of Marie Antionette – Oscar and Rose connect the modern, solid body electric guitar with flowery, romanticized presentations of historical imagery, much like the genres of historical fiction and sword-and-sorcery fantasy.

The guitars are equal parts representations of an idealized fantasy self as they are archives of my real life at the time they were made: my obsession with Ikeda's work and the Maine woods I was immersed in that summer show up in the scrolling plant life adorning the instruments.