The Roving Artist
Useful information
850
850
We have experience doing events outside the UK.
Services
Specific Details
About the company
Charles Burns is the UK’s busiest silhouettist, working at a huge variety of events at home and overseas.
Working as The Roving Artist Charles has appeared at all kinds of venues and cut nearly 200,000 profiles. These include three portraits of the Queen, President Clinton (while visiting the National Portrait Gallery) and an ever-growing number of TV personalities, writers, artists and sporting celebrities.
Today you can book him to appear either virtually or in real life, depending on the circumstances. Charles describes the experience of cutting silhouettes over Zoom as: "a real eye opener. I can't think why I didn't do this years ago! Working from my Zoom studio I can cut portraits of people anywhere from America to Japan!"
At a "real world" event he will amaze your guests by cutting portraits, seemingly in seconds, with just with a pair of scissors and a pocketful of paper.
Style
Sustainability
All travel to events by train or low-emission vehicle. All event printing carried out by environmentally-aware printers. Currently moving the business online to reduce travel-related impacts further. All silhouettes easily recyclable (if desired... )
FAQ's
This would have to be a certain 70th-wedding anniversary party which took place in Windsor. You can probably guess who for!
This honour might have to go to a corporate family fun day which took place in a lorry park in Basildon. The light, constant drizzle and lack of any cover just added to the event...
I challenged, but didn't quite achieve (for reasons I won't go into) a world silhouette speed-cutting record in Houston, TX. At this event I cut 149 portraits in one hour! However, I don't usually work anything like that fast. I tell clients to allow anywhere between one or two minutes per silhouette. 90 seconds is a good average.
I enjoy it most when people challenge me by adopting unusual poses. Interestingly, one of the unexpected benefits of working over Zoom is that this seems to happen far more often. In the privacy of their own homes people come up with all kinds of interesting ideas for me to make silhouettes out of. These include family pets, baby bumps, favourite toys and, recently, a blue-tongued skink (google it,..) So, whatever your event, feel free to challenge me!