Silhouettes by Chris is coming to the Northland as he cuts portraits of people and pets within minutes. The silhouettes take 30 seconds to three minutes, depending on how much hair there is. Chris Casey is a second-generation silhouette artist who is one of the 20-25 silhouette artists in the United States.

Chris will be at Ramone’s Ice Cream Parlor in Eau Claire, WI, on Thursday, April 10th, at 1 pm. Then this weekend, Saturday, the 12th, he will be at Rassbach Heritage Museum in Menomonee, WI, at 1 pm. Next will be the Legacy Toys in the Miller Hill Mall, in Duluth, MN, on Sunday, also at 1 pm. Wrapping up his tour with Classy Rascals in Janesville, WI, on Tuesday, 15th & Pottery Barn Kids in Indianapolis, IN, Fri, Apr 25th.

The origin of the silhouette is from Etiwanda Silhouette. Eighteenth-century French financial minister. He made them just like this as an inexpensive alternative to oil portraiture. Everybody couldn’t afford an oil painting, but they could all afford a silhouette. In the 18th century, there was famine in France, and people started referring to the citizens as silhouette because everyone was so thin.

Chris uses a smooth-smooth blade, a surgical scissor made in Germany, along small silhouette papers to cut out any person or pet. He originally went to X-Ray school, but watching his dad made him shift to a different passion. “I watched my dad make these literally for 30 years before I ever realized that I wanted to do this as a profession,” he said.

2nd Generation Silhouette Artist

Edward Casey is an internationally recognized, award-winning silhouette artist and former top-selling portrait artist with Walt Disney World. Edward attributes his ability to create such phenomenal likenesses to his almost 50 years of experience in portraiture.

Edward was in Orlando in 1989, where he met a French girl, the exchange student who was a silhouette artist in France. At the Epoch Center, she showed him how to do a silhouette because he’s a portrait artist. He sold it and about a month later, continued to cut silhouettes, becoming self-employed in 1991.

Acting as an assistant to his dad, Chris began to fall in love with silhouettes and seven years ago began his own journey. “When I actually went in his place, I fell in love with it,” Chris said. “I mean you ask a five-year-old kid where they work and what kind of car they drive the little guys that will tell you the biggest lies. That’s never ever lose that imagination. It’s beautiful.”

For a couple of hours each event, Chris hosts three time slots every fifteen minutes. He works off people who stop by, photos, and even submitted videos through his Instagram.

“That’s my favorite part because for one minute. I can interact with them,” he said. “I get a big kick out of it. Maybe it looks like he maybe doesn’t but like I said the goal is to get the good likeness and that is literally the best in the business of capturing the likeness of the person.”

For more information and to reach out to Chris, head to his website, Silhouettes by Chris