Louis Shields, owner of Hastenings Antiques in Middleburg, said he became fascinated with using burned edges to create lines and shapes that normally he would draw or paint.  While perfecting his technique, he began to explore fire as an element, researching the origins of fire and its role in mythology and literature. "Every culture has been in awe of the power of fire.  Uncontrolled, it destroys everything in its path. Harnessed, it is essential to civilization."  Shields paints his canvases with abstract designs, then creates a collage by applying burned edges of paper to create forms and images.  "I went through reams of different papers," he said.  "Some of it just flashes and burns in your hand when you try to singe it; some you can control a little but it is very hard to achieve exactly what you want.  This is where technique takes over, and you have to work with what the fire yields.  There are so many variables:  paint, gesso and glue, lacquer, ash, papers...The secret is to get them all to work together.  Sometimes they take me in a surprising direction."

"After finishing a couple of canvases, I studied them and the more they reminded me of the world today.  Everything seems a little scorched, or burned or-- singed--the word I felt best described it:  war, terrorism, an economy that threatens to turn to ash, and we are only nine years into this millennium.  So, this was the genesis of the title of the show."

Shields, who has been drawing and painting since childhood, finally is in his element.  His unusual career path began as a fashion designer in New York where he specialized in custom-made leather clothes with free-hand designs burned into the leather.  His designs made the pages of top fashion magazines such as Vogue.  He moved to London to pursue a career in art but discovered antiques and began studying history and restoration. Designing clothes, restoring antiques, or pursuing his hobby of gourmet cooking or painting canvases, "It is all art," he says.