Booth 905
(See map below)
About the Artist
Plants excite me, their shape and structure define their living grace and elegance. I am driven to create their form with a malleable piece of copper. It is not the reproduction of a plant, but the capture of a living form from my mind's eye into an aesthetic piece of artistry. To me, each creation is a new journey that I take, each hammer blow is a series of progressive steps to bring the concept into reality. I cannot tell you where I will step, but I will know it on my journey. My goal is to share my feelings for nature and plants so that others can take a moment to recall nature's beauty just outside. I use copper exclusively in my creations; such as sheet metal, pipe, round stock, tubing, and wire of various sizes and thicknesses. Pedestals for my work are normally granite but use of stone and flagstone will sometimes be used in lieu. I use modern-day and traditional techniques to weld copper together. To weld copper, I use an oxygen and propane torch to fuse the metal together. Sometimes I need an ingot of copper and I will melt enough copper together to create the ingot size from scrap pieces. The technique involves aspects from coppersmiths, forging, and repousse and chasing. Plus, I have 30 years of hands-on experience as a machinist. When I create my works, I will create a central point of interest and intertwine other secondary features. An example is my single roses; rose petals are a central focus point, but the leaves and stem come from other plants with imaginary hammered textures. Copper's brilliant, rich color will darken over time, but modern finishes can greatly retard this effect. Formulated for bare metals and extremely durable; ProtectaClear can be used inside and outside to protect copper, brass, silver, and stainless steel. My creations have several clear coats of ProtectaClear applied to them prior to assembly to maintain their appearance.
