Inside the Grundy Flea Market, the smell of wood and the sight of Appalachian scenes draw visitors toward Pat Clark’s booth.
Cabins, barns, trains, classic cars, wildlife and family homesteads are carefully burned into pieces of wood, with each dark line and shaded corner added by hand. Some pieces require several hours. The largest and most detailed may keep Clark working for more than a week.
For Clark, the work is more than something to sell. It is a way to preserve places, memories and pieces of mountain life.
Clark and his wife, Terri, operate a booth alongside other vendors at the flea market in the former Magic Mart building in Grundy. His artwork shares the space with the crocheted animals and other handmade items created by Terri.
Clark describes his work with one word: “Rustic.”
“It’s an old art form,” he said. “People are doing nowadays laser, and it’s nowhere near what this is. This here is much more detailed, much more artistic, because you can get the shading in it that you can’t get with the laser.”
Wood burning, also known as pyrography, uses a heated tool to create designs on wood. Clark first draws the image, burns its outline and then returns to add shadows, highlights and texture.
The process is similar to painting, he said, because the artist must understand how light and dark areas work together. Holding the tool’s tip against the wood longer produces a darker mark, while lightly moving it across the surface creates softer shading.
Those differences help bring smoke, trees, clouds, wood siding and other details to life.
“You draw it out, outline it, and then you go back in and burn the outline,” Clark said. “Then you go back in and shade it. That’s where it’s like painting — your darks and the lights.”
Clark did not begin seriously pursuing wood burning until after retirement, but his artistic foundation was established many years earlier.
A 1978 graduate of Lebanon High School, Clark took art classes for approximately three years. He considered pursuing art professionally but ultimately followed his talent for music. Clark earned all-state band honors during his final two years of high school and studied music education in college.
The lessons he learned in those high school art classes never completely left him.
“I remember a lot of it about shading and all that kind of stuff,” Clark said. “I had a good teacher.”
When he returned to wood burning decades later, those old lessons began coming back to him.
Music took Clark first to the classroom and eventually to the stage. After college, he worked as a substitute teacher in Russell County before accepting a position at Alleghany High School in Sparta, North Carolina.
Clark said the school had approximately 350 students and wanted to establish a competitive marching band. He began with about 12 students and, within three years, had built the marching band to more than 80 members. He also worked with a choir of approximately 45 students.
He returned to Southwest Virginia in 1987 for a teaching position in Grundy. That move also introduced him to Terri, who was teaching at J.M. Bevins Elementary School. The two became friends, married that summer and later moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Clark eventually left teaching and spent approximately 30 years working in retail management. Music, however, remained a significant part of his life.
As a professional musician, Clark performed on the euphonium, an instrument similar to a smaller tuba. His musical experiences included appearing with or opening for nationally known performers, including Three Dog Night, Kenny G, Al Jarreau and America.
After Clark and Terri lost their mothers within a short period, they eventually returned to Buchanan County and settled in Vansant.
Clark had experimented with wood burning years earlier, including during his time in North Carolina, but he did not devote himself to the craft until retiring at age 64.
Since then, it has become part of his daily routine.
“Every day,” Clark said when asked how often he works on his art.
Years of practice show in the growing detail of his pieces. Clark signs his work with his first name and the year it was completed, so he can look back and see how his technique has developed.
A large piece featuring a cabin took approximately eight days to complete. Clark carefully burned the porch shingles, fireplace and other small architectural details into the wood.
He priced the piece at $150, far less than an hourly wage would produce for eight days of work.
“You don’t really get what time you put into it,” Clark said.
His goal is to make enough from the pieces to purchase wood and other supplies, but financial gain is not what keeps him working.
It is, he said, about the love of the art and seeing the finished image emerge from an ordinary piece of wood.
Clark works primarily with curly maple and basswood. A friend near Haysi cuts pieces for guitar companies and lets Clark collect scraps that might otherwise be discarded. Many of those pieces are already close to the size he needs, so he only has to sand the edges and prepare the surface.
Basswood is softer and burns easily, so Clark has to be careful with how much pressure he applies. Curly maple is harder, but its natural grain, curves and imperfections can become part of the finished artwork.
“Sometimes the weirder, the better it turns out,” Clark said.
A curve in the grain might become part of an animal’s body, while a light spot may resemble sunlight breaking through a scene. Clark said cracks and uneven areas do not necessarily ruin a piece. Instead, they often add character to the finished work.
His subjects reflect both his interests and the requests he receives from customers. Clark has burned images of abandoned Southwest Virginia homes, covered bridges, Pilot Mountain in North Carolina and family farms. Other pieces feature Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, Native Americans, elk, bears, dogs, cats, trains and vintage automobiles.
Custom orders can carry special meaning. Customers bring Clark photographs of family homes, barns, farms, pets or favorite vehicles and ask him to preserve the images in wood.
For one family project, Clark combined a house and a grandfather’s barn into a single scene. He produced 10 copies so members of the family could each have one.
Classic-car owners also bring photographs of vehicles they want recreated. If a treasured car eventually rusts or is sold, Clark said, the owner can still keep its image.
Not every attempt goes exactly as planned. While working on a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado, Clark accidentally burned the year as 1987.
Unlike ink on paper, however, a wood-burning mistake does not always mean starting over. Clark keeps a sander nearby and can sometimes remove the damaged portion and smooth the surface for another attempt.
“It’s not over,” he said.
Clark generally avoids one subject: human portraits.
“I will not do portraits,” he said.
The fine lines of a person’s face can be unforgiving when burned into wood. A misplaced or overly dark line can change someone’s expression or make the person appear much older.
Clark once completed a portrait of his nephew that turned out well, but his attempt to duplicate it was another matter.
“He looked like about 80 years old,” Clark said.
Terri has watched her husband’s skill grow with every new piece. She said she always knew he was artistic, but years of practice have taken his work to another level.
“He’s super talented,” she said.
Terri brings her own creativity to the booth. She has crocheted since she was a teenager and makes toys, animals and other items. Crocheted turtles and chickens have been among her strongest sellers.
The couple initially attended festivals and craft shows with Terri’s work. Pat brought a few wood-burned pieces to a later event, and his side of the display grew from there.
Traveling to festivals became more physically demanding as their inventory increased. Each show required them to pack their work, load it, unload it, arrange the display and repeat the process afterward. Their permanent booth at the Grundy Flea Market now gives them a place to display their creations without rebuilding the shop at every event.
Clark believes the market could provide the same opportunity to other local artists and craftspeople.
“There’s a lot of people who talk to me that do different crafts and stuff, and I keep telling them they need to open up a booth here,” he said.
Clark sees no shortage of artistic talent in Buchanan County and the surrounding region. What artists often lack, he said, is a consistent place where the public can find their work.
The flea market helps fill that need, offering Clark a place to display everything from small decorative boxes to detailed scenes that required days of patient work.
For him, the appeal remains the transformation — taking a plain piece of wood, applying heat one careful mark at a time and watching a familiar scene slowly take shape.
After decades spent teaching, managing stores and making music, Clark has found another instrument for his creativity. This one does not produce a sound. It leaves a permanent mark.
The public is invited to visit the Grundy Flea Market, now under new management, inside the former Magic Mart building in Grundy. The market features a variety of local vendors offering handmade crafts, artwork, collectibles and other merchandise. Visitors are encouraged to stop by, browse the booths and support local artists, craftspeople and small businesses.
