A Copper Alliance Member
Copper in the Arts
Issue #14: June '08 - Cont'd
Massey Copper: Inspired by the Organic Form
Copper artist Walter Massey working with his son, MarcPhotograph by Elizabeth Becker
Massey also studied art and eventually developed his own unique way of fabricating copper that utilizes his training as a welder. This led to the founding of his company, Massey Copper, in Port Townsend, Washington, where he creates a variety of art pieces, as well as teaches others how to blend fabrication with welding.
Massey’s love of creating began at an early age. He grew up in an artistic family in South Carolina, where he spent hours painting alongside his grandmother in her garden. As a teen, he became interested in “structural” media and began building intricate model ships, automobiles, airplanes, and historical armor and weaponry. While in school at Seattle Pacific University, he learned lost wax casting and began designing and making small sculpture jewelry in silver.
His technique today involves first creating his sculpture out of paper using poster board and masking tape – an idea conceived in his childhood.
“I would sit at my grandmother’s knee while she would sew dresses, and from that, I got an idea that I could conceptualize anything if I could mock it up with paper and tape and make all my mistakes that way,” he says. “Then, when I got to the copper, it would actually be easier than the paper because it does bend and it’s flexible.”
Massey working in his Massey Copper studio
Photograph by Elizabeth Becker
He is currently preparing to launch a five-month project to create a large madrone tree for a world-class designer home on Bainbridge Island. He has created this particular tree before, which was so large that it extended up through the room’s skylight.
Creating a life-sized tree is problematic, and Massey is always working to develop better ways to fabricate figures in the round.
“Three-dimensional artwork is difficult,” he says. “It’s hard to make things look good from every angle. For me, it’s a great challenge…I really like what I do, but there’s always a part of it that’s not where I want it.”
Massey teaches his technique in his own shop, as well as the Wooden Boat School in Port Townsend. He likes to create a party atmosphere in his classes, and complete novices can participate, producing a small sculpture or fountain in a single day.
“I teach people how to take a thought and fabricate it in three-dimensional reality,” he says. “I get them to participate in an artistic kind of way in a machine shop atmosphere.”
He teaches what he calls an old-fashioned method involving the welding of phosphorous copper rods using gas torches, which is a less expensive method of fabricating copper. His students learn the basics of making a three-dimensional form from flat-sheet copper, including cutting and fabricating the copper, as well as texturing it through reticulation. Rather than casting the metal, he teaches them to create a wrinkled effect by burning the edge with the gas torch.
NW Salmon by Massey Copper
Photograph by Elizabeth Becker
Massey gets his copper from Alaska Copper & Brass in Seattle, and he sometimes works with silicon bronze as well. His work is on public display in eight states and in private collections in 23 states and four countries.
Massey’s wife, Norma, works with him in the business, and all five of their now grown children apprenticed with him and are capable of teaching his technique.
“Helping Dad in the shop was their after-school job from about 10 years old to graduation from high school,” Norma says.
While Massey loves creating art, he never forgets that he runs a business. “The story of my life is that I always have my foot in two camps,” he says. “I borrow from the machine shop fabricating experience, and I also borrow from the more art school “artsy” way of doing things. To me, that’s the game.”
It’s people who inspire him most, though. “The art’s exciting,” he says, “but I like the fact that it delights people.”
Resources:
Massey Copper, Port Townsend, WA, (360) 344-3611
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The Sky’s the Limit for Celestial Copper Artist Phil Gauthier
Artifact by Phil Gauthier
Photograph by Phil Gauthier
It’s a quest for the old and the odd. “I love to re-purpose things,” he says. That means brass from antique dressers, bells from telephones, toilet fixtures, even parts from old tractors.
Originally working as a woodworker, something he learned from his father, he discovered a piece of copper scrap one day and immediately thought, “What can I do with this?” As a marketing angle he wanted to produce a repeatable product where he could set up jigs and templates and have the ability to reproduce similar pieces, but with a wide range of variety. The zodiac idea was born. Gauthier creates each sign of the zodiac as a wall mounted sculpture. Pieces are hand hammered and measure 12 x 16 inches, embedded with glass, stones, steel and a celestial intensity.
“I buy sheet copper for my zodiac pieces, 12 gauge which is stiffer,” he says, often purchasing 18 and 24 gauge direct from his local lumberyard for larger works. “The construction grade is softer, malleable and bendable.”
For the creation of his zodiac and Goodnight Moons, he’ll start with a template to mark where the stars go.
“I drill holes, then I’ve constructed a press whereby it punches through the holes and dimples the copper,” he says, before using a scouring pad, similar to one found in kitchen sinks everywhere. “That puts lines in the copper that refract light.” Then he pulls out the blowtorch and “paints the copper sheet.” Depending on the length of time he holds the flame, he’ll produce violet hues, golden hues and an array of colors befitting the universe. He then cleans and lacquers the copper sheet. “I epoxy the glass and steel balls that represent the stars and cement in the wire that connects them,” he adds. The wire is raised from the copper in order to create a three dimensional aspect to the work and to compose shadows. Lastly he affixes the sheet on a mounting board using copper rivets. Gauthier has a vast array of hammers, some he’s purchased and some he’s actually made from woods like oak and maple in order to get the precise dimpling he wants.
The Home and Garden TV Network contacted him recently to profile his work for an episode of "That's Clever". The show, scheduled to air later this year, also gave him the opportunity to showoff his kinetic pieces.
“This work uses the same elements, copper, old fittings, brass, wood and glass, but the components are interactive,” says Gauthier.
His hand driven pieces turn cranks, which activate levers that move bells which ring, and gears that turn. His wood gears are hand made, requiring precision carving, something he knows very well.
“My kinetic work has an aesthetic appeal as well as composition and mechanics,” he adds. The complex pieces have caused some people to joke with him, questioning if he’s a frustrated engineer. “No,” he replies, “I’m a fulfilled artist.”
He’ll be showing his work once again at Art on the Commons in Londonderry, New Hampshire, his fourth year to participate. His Web site continues to do a brisk business for his one-of-a kind zodiac pieces and he’s beginning another idea that encompasses Nordic runes and constellations. “It’s kind of a Nordic navigation map,” he says. Once again, copper will play a part. “From the first time I incorporated copper into my work I knew it was there to stay. I love the look and feel of it, the smoothness, how it bends and shape. It’s a fabulous metal.”
Copper in the Arts: HISTORY
Copper Jewelry in the Early Americas
Early copper beads
Photograph courtesy of the Ohio Historical Society
“People traveled trade routes, which is how copper arrived in the North,” she explains. “Most of the artifacts were formed in the Latin area with the Aztecs, Mayas, and Inca’s. Then, the French arrived and traded copper or brass beads with Northern American Indians like the Iroquois, Sioux and Cheyenne. However, the Inca’s, who live in the mountains of Peru, create my pieces, like mixed metal copper braided bracelets that have been melted down with brass and iron, as well as copper.”
Crazy Crow Trading Post opened an Indian store in Dallas, Texas, to serve the local community in 1973. They’ve grown from a single table at a powwow to a modern 31,000 sq. ft. warehouse complex with offices.
“Even though Indians had copper before European contact, they’ve made little use of it except for occasional jewelry items,” explains Barry Hardin, sales manager. “Archeological evidence apparently shows that after European contact they both traded for and made brass bracelets from heavy gauge brass wire, concurrent with their use of copper. Many times copper and brass materials were salvaged from manufactured trade goods like brass kettles and pails. Among the over 7,000 products we carry, Crazy Crow deals in reproductions of brass and copper wire bracelets like those used by native Americans during the 1800s and earlier. Regarding the beads, I’m sure that any attempts by Indians to fashion beads from copper was, at best, sparse. Indians were never interested in making items from mineral material. They were Stone Age people and their handicrafts used simple natural materials such as plant and animal byproducts. Indians only became involved with mining after they were enslaved by the Spanish and forced to dig for silver, especially in South America.”
Lee Anderson, the founder and one of the owners of Americana Indian Shows, together with his sons, Eric and Matthew, continues a business and tradition started nearly forty years ago. He has penned many papers on Native American Indians and is a credited appraiser of Southwestern Indian jewelry, Kachinas, rugs, baskets, pottery and artifacts. They had galleries in Sedona and Flagstaff, Arizona, but closed them and now travel around the country with approximately 26 shows and sales a year.
“The Navajo wore ornaments obtained from those they conquered and trading partners, as well,” says Anderson. “The ornaments were made from German silver, which was a copper/nickel/zinc substance, as well as copper, brass and some silver. They learned to appreciate and hold dear the symbols of their prowess or their wealth.”
According to Anderson, the early Navajos wore a cross or a crescent shaped naja on a rawhide necklace, which was likely an ornament of beauty and pride. Thus, the pendant cross evolved, as did the naja, into a multitude of variations and blends. They were displayed on a simple thong and included metal beads, stone, shell or silver. And, the Zuni were skilled craftsman also creating items in copper, brass and iron.
Copper in the Arts: NEWS
The Five Elements: Group Sculpture Exhibition Opens at Ch'i Contemporary Fine Art - July 11, 2008
Steven Dobbin's Airplane
Photograph courtesy of Ch'i Contemporary
Fine Art
This group show features the work of Alan Binstock, John Clement, Michel Demanche, Steven Dobbin, Oliver Doriss, Amanda Dow Thompson, Sonjie Solomon, Sy Gresser,Howard Gross Miwa Koizumi, Alexandra Limpert, Joe Mangrum, Arthur Mednick, Gene Michieli, Michael Winger, and Homer Yost.
In this collective, Metal and Fire breathe life into one another in the welded steel and bronze sculptures of Gene Michieli (bronze) and Arthur Mednick (steel). Michieli's forms convey a sense of nature through an abstract language, while Mednick's compact works reference the essence of objects not yet known. Exploring metal's property of creating exterior boundaries, Alexandra Limpert's mechanical android sculptures almost resemble cognizant human beings. While the twists and loops in John Clement's steel pipe formations convey how Fire is used to bring out metal's expansive energy.
Exploring metal as a cover, Steven Dobbin's sheathes sheets of lead, steel, and copper over wood to create pieces that are sociological statements of what society dictates as "normal". Referring to the mind and consciousness, Fire's ability to liquefy and transform Earth is visually captured in Oliver Dorris's colorful cast glass works recalling natural earthen caverns and fissures. Also referencing natural openings are the grotto-like sculptures of Howard Gross. While, Linda Casbon's ceramic sculptures and Sy Gresser's hand carved stone sculptures bring life to Earth, which controls the 'yi' (focus & intellect). Metal also houses the 'po' or animal nature as embodied in the bronze figurative sculptures of Homer Yost.
Alan Binstock's cosmic glass and steel sculptures express the symbiotic relationship between Earth and Metal. Using flexibility and judgment combined with strategy, Wood is ruled by the emotion of "Anger". Amanda Dow Thompson's three-dimensional sculptures embody the inherent inner tension found in Wood. While, Michael Winger's Dervish piece exemplifies this element's ability to twist with an unwavering stringency.
On the opposite spectrum, Sonjie Feliciano Solomon's installations capture the ethereal soul of Wood's derivative paper. Water, the fifth element, combines power with softness and calmness; it also represents vessels. Miwa Koizumi's sea creatures made of plastic bottles tap into Water's feng shui property of "conserving". Her aquatic "pets" made of vessels once used to hold water are visually pleasing examples of eco-friendly art. Michel Demanche's Rebus references water instruments used to predict tornadoes. Finally, Joe Mangrum's installation incorporates each element to form an amalgamation of the Wu Xing (Five Phases).
Resources:
Ch'i Contemporary Fine Art, 293 Grand St., Brooklyn, NY, (718) 218-8939
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