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Copper in the Arts

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Issue #19: November '08 - Cont'd

The Metal Peddler: Keeping Tradition Alive

By Melanie Votaw

The Metal Peddler at work in his studio

Photograph courtesy of Jason Fannin

When Jason Fannin was in his 20’s, he sat in a smoke-filled pub, listening to metal craftsmen talk about their work. “They had scars on their hands and burn marks all over their arms,” he recalls. But what really impressed Fannin was the pride they took in their trade.

This led to his own apprenticeship in Virginia and an eventual job with a company called Chamberlain Brass, which is still owned and run by James Chamberlain. Fannin worked there for 11 years and received his Master Craftsman Certification through Chamberlain. “He taught me traditional metalwork,” Fannin says. “Everything was done by hand. There were no fancy machines to do your work for you.”

During this time, Fannin was living in the projects and barely making a living. So, he began to create hurricane lamps in his living room. He spent six months making 40 lamps and took them to an arts and crafts show. At 26, he thought pricing the lamps at $150-$175 was fair. So, he set up his booth on Friday, and by lunch time on Saturday, all 40 lamps had sold. Chamberlain set him straight, though, when he calculated that the hourly rate Fannin made at those prices was only about $1.50.

Fannin has come a long way since then. He now runs his own businesses in West Sunbury, Pennsylvania – The Metal Peddler, Inc. and Artisan Metal Shop. These businesses are moving into their sixth year with customers all over the world and some prestigious clientele like Donna Karan International and designer David McNulty. Fannin maintains five employees that he trained in his fabrication techniques.

“I prefer someone who doesn’t know anything about the trade at all,” he says. “I’ll teach them my ways because my ways are the right ways. These are the ways that are time-tested…The final outcome is that the product is made very well, made using traditional methods, and we get it made in a timely manner.”

The bulk of Fannin’s work consisted of custom copper products, occasionally brass, including range hoods, countertops, backsplashes, pot racks, fence post caps, switch plates, mailboxes, letters and numbers, barn stars, rain chains, and even bathtubs. He takes enormous pride in the fact that no two pieces will be exactly the same.

“We’ll take a piece of metal, we’ll heat it, bend it, roll it, and heat it up again, then shape it with our hands – that type of thing” he says. “Everything here is handmade.”

Fannin’s customers are diverse. A store in Berkeley, California maintains a showroom of his work, and Alcoa came to him with a problem that he managed to solve, which led to his manufacturing two components for one of their fencing systems. A town in Georgia made it a city ordinance that if someone puts up a wood fence, they have to buy their fence post caps from The Metal Peddler.

Copper Fairy Fountain, by The Metal Peddler

Photograph courtesy of Jason Fannin

Even his company’s hammered sheets are more authentic than most, according to Fannin. “A lot of companies will take the copper, lay it on gravel, and run over it with a forklift. Some companies will take a hammer and just randomly hit it,” he says. “Every hammer blow [here] is purposely done to shape the copper to give it the hammered texture look. It is the same method that Gustav Stickley used…It hasn’t changed in over a hundred years.”

Fannin has also created some very unique patina finishes.

“It takes a lot of experimenting, doing strange things,” he says. “I’ve taken bubble wrap and put my patina solution on it. I’ve used saran wrap and wrinkled-up newspaper. I’ve gone through a lot of different things to manipulate my finishes to get what I want.” His signature patina is called “The Pompeii,” and it gives the copper a mottled, antique look that almost appears textured when it catches the light.

Most of the copper used by The Metal Peddler comes from Hussey Copper in Leetsdale, Pennsylvania, but Fannin tries to recycle copper whenever possible. While he concentrates mostly on straight fabrication, he gets a yen for more artistic pieces at times. Lately, he’s been thinking about creating a chandelier.

On his web site, Fannin says that the Industrial Age put many master craftsmen out of work, and their methods were forgotten.

“It is my goal to revive the master crafts of past days,” he says, stressing that his customers “want that old-world craftsmanship. They want to feel the craftsmanship in it.”

Resources:

The Metal Peddler, West Sunbury, PA, (866) 500-9898

The Little Copper Cookie Cutter That Could

By Michael Cervin

Creating copper cookie cutters In Aunt

Holly's studio

Photograph courtesy of Holly Little

The name says it all: Aunt Holly’s Copper Cookie Cutters. But behind that name are the husband and wife team of Larry and Holly Little who found themselves involved in a copper business that keeps on growing. It may seem niche, and indeed it is, but the copper cookie cutters they create by hand are showing up everywhere.

“The idea originated from my wife wanting them, it was her request,” Larry says. “She had a huge collection of tin cutters.” While living in Indiana, Holly visited a gentleman who made copper cookie cutters. “She went to his shop but they were so expensive,” he recalls. “She asked me if there was any way I could do it?”

So, Larry gave it a try and began to perfect his approach to custom crafting the copper cutters. Of course, he already had some experience with the metal arts. As a former mechanical contractor, specifically a burner service technician for industrial boilers, the shop he worked at had a metal smith who taught him a few things.

“The progression of our business started with friends and relatives,” says Larry. “Then it moved to people who knew friends and relatives, and then it moved to building our own shop. Copper is just so pliable and easy to work with, we never considered any other metal.”

The growth from a local circle of customers kept growing until they moved to Maine and decided to launch their Internet site in 2006. “We thought, how are we going to do this?” he recalls. “Either we go for quantity at a low price or the absolute maximum quality. If we sell them, we do; if we don’t, we don’t,” was their nonchalant approach. But they did sell. Currently Larry and Holly have more than 200 stock copper cutters and they can custom create many more.

Rooster copper cookie cutter

Photograph courtesy of Holly Little

“We have customers all over the states and the Virgin Islands,” Larry mentioned. But fully half of their orders are for custom work. “One woman wanted a dancing bear. She had the design and I made it. I just did a logo for a bank in Florida.” Then there was one guy who wanted an inch and a half lobster that Larry free form shaped.

“We have a mansion in California that at Christmastime wants huge cutters they hang in their foyer for decoration,” he says. “Some people have asked me to make a hanger so they can display the cutters.” And one client wanted to use the design Larry created as her company logo. And the list goes on. Then they received a call from New York based artist Allan McCollum. He commissioned 288 copper shapes from Larry as part of his “Shapes Project” that will open in January 2009 at the Fredrich Petzel Gallery in New York. The show will feature four Maine artists, Aunt Holly being the only one using copper.

Larry’s 20 step process for creating the copper cutters is straightforward.

“We start with a three by ten sheet of copper, shear an inch and a quarter wide by three feet, break over the top quarter inch, then smash it down.” Larry says. “Then, I take it to the slip roll so it’s air tight, straighten it back out and deburr the cutting edge.”

Then Larry and Holly do the manual bending with tools they have purchased off the shelf, and some they’ve had to modify like needle-nose and duck-billed pliers.

“We make a flush connection, then center punch for three rivets,” he says, adding that they do not solder the connection. They use a vibratory polishing system to create the shine and the copper cutters stay in there for up to two hours. Copper sheets come from Gutter Supply in Lake Bluff, Illinois, the same place Larry has been purchasing his copper for years. He sources his 3/32 copper rivets from Hanson Rivet & Supply in Pacoima, California.

Buffalo copper cookie cutter

Photograph courtesy of Holly Little

“We don’t rush any step, we make sure to do it right,” he says, adding that they don’t use a lacquer or sealer for the cutters. “We like copper no matter how it looks. But no matter what happens to it, you can bring it back.”

One of the ways he suggests restoring the original sheen of the copper cookie cutters is a tub and tile cleaner called Kaboom. “If you spray copper with it then let it sit, it brings the shine out like you wouldn’t believe,” he says.

Today, people all over the U.S. make cookies with Larry and Holly’s copper cutters. Some decorate with them and now some will be displayed as art, exemplifying copper’s true versatility.

Resources:

Aunt Holly Copper Cookie Cutters, 13 Jones Rd., Trescott, ME

Copper in the Arts: HISTORY

Rediscovering the Prints of Paul Revere

By Donna Dvorak

The Town of Boston and the Landing of the British Troops, 1768,

copper-plated print by Paul Revere

Photograph courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Although most known for his famous “Midnight Ride” during the American Revolution, Paul Revere also left his mark as a metalsmith in the early 18th Century.

Revere had apprenticed with his father and eventually owned the silver shop that boasted his own name. He used his father’s maker mark, and even shared patterns for casting handles and other parts. The senior Revere died in 1754, and when his son returned home within a year of service in the French and Indian War, he took over the shop along with its customers, tools, excellent reputation and even trained young men in the silversmith field.

In 1787, Revere opened his own foundry and Copper Mill in Boston’s North End. The mill was financed with income from his silversmith shop and assistance from various relatives. Revere produced iron products, created bolts and spikes for the shipbuilding industry, cannon and bells. The foundry soon become a forerunner in the copper industry when Revere developed a mill for rolling copper. In 1800, Revere secured a federal government loan, to purchase and renovate a former gunpowder mill in Canton, Massachusetts for use as a copper rolling mill.

Motivated by patriotism and profit, Revere continued to learn new techniques, and soon became the first American to successfully roll copper into sheets. His customers included, among others, the federal government, who used copper in its naval vessels, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts who incorporated the copper in the dome of its new state house, and Robert Fulton, of steamship fame, who used heavy copper sheets for boilers on his steamships. And now, thanks to The Massachusetts Archives and Commonwealth Museum, his unique portfolio of engravings struck from an actual copperplate he created and engraved can now be viewed.

“We offer these in conjunction with the Commonwealth Museum,” says Ellen Bragalone, Director of Operations at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. “They produced a limited edition (500) of three prints; two Paul Revere engravings and a copy of a soldier’s pay record. The State Archives authorized this re-strike of Paul Revere’s most significant original copperplates. The limited edition was inked by a master printer and hand-colored. These engravings actually represent two major occurrences in pre-revolutionary Boston – the Boston Massacre and the Landing of the British Troops.”

Each portfolio is constructed of acid-free board and has an external navy-blue fabric cover sealed with an Italian silk ribbon. The front of the portfolio bears the content’s title: The Paul Revere Portfolio – In Defense of American Liberty: Works That Changed America that are impressed into the coverplate of the portfolio in a classic gold script. The portfolio includes three engravings hand printed on 100% acid free cotton-rag paper. Every print is hand-colored with watercolors in period fashion, a hand-printed description in period letter press of each engraving, and a certificate of authenticity bearing the Great Seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Resources:

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Avenue of the Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA, (617) 267-9300

Copper in the Arts: NEWS

Baroque Sculptor Milton Hebald Returns to US for Harmon-Meek Exhibition - November 09, 2008

Milton Hebald, the award-winning contemporary baroque sculptor from New York City, has returned to United States at the age of 91 to partake in a special exhibition at the Harmon–Meek Gallery in Naples, FL. On view from November 4th to November 20th as part of the galleries 46th anniversary celebration, the show will also showcase the work of American masters Will Barnet, Robert Vickrey, Balcomb Greene, Robert Kipniss, Paul Jenkins, Herman Maril, Adolf Dehn, Jimmy Ernst, Robert Natkin, Eliot O'Hara, Byron Browne, Hunt Slonem, Richard Segalman, Richard Anuszkiewicz and Dan Rizzie.

Capriccio, by Milton Hebald

Photograph courtesy of Harmon-Meek Gallery

Established in Naples in January 1964 by Foster Harmon, the Harmon–Meek Gallery has been primarily interested in promoting the creativeness of certain American artists dating from 1920 to present. In 1972, J. William Meek, III joined the gallery as assistant–director and became director–owner in January 1978.

Hebald’s acclaimed sculptures on view, in various mediums such as bronze, wood and terracotta, are inspired by the different forms of love: familial, platonic, romantic and erotic; ultimately conveying his unswerving faith in mankind by the humor and passion he molds into his forms.

After winning the Prix de Rome at the American Academy in 1953, Hebald settled in Bracciano, Italy. Remaining committed to his roots in New York, Hebald was commissioned for various public works for the city. In 1961 Pan Am commissioned Hebald to create a "Zodiac Screen" for their terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport, which at 220 feet was the largest sculpture in the world. Another notable Hebald sculpture is the iconic "Romeo & Juliet" bronze that stands in front of the Delacourt Shakespeare Theatre in New York's Central Park.

Hebald also has a great presence throughout the United States and abroad, including many public works in Los Angeles, Florida and Italy. Perhaps one of Hebald's most prized sculptures is the headstone he was commissioned to build by the family of James Joyce. As a scholar of Joyce and his works, Hebald's sculpture is a famed rendition of the prolific writer. The sculpture still rests on top of Joyce's grave in Zurich, Switzerland.

Hebald currently resides in the emerging arts community of Culver City, California, where he continues to sculpt in terracotta, producing several new sculptures each month. He recently donated a terracotta bust of the American poet, Walt Whitman, to the Culver City Senior Center, the location of his current studio.

Hebald is represented by the Harmon-Meek Gallery in Naples, a gallery that has represented him since 1969. The Harmon-Meek Gallery opens for the 2008 arts season on October 20th. Hebald will also have an exhibition in Los Angeles in 2009. Hebald's works can also be seen in the permanent collections of the Whitney and the Smithsonian.

Resources:

Harmon–Meek Gallery, 599 Ninth Street North, Suite 309, Naples, FL, (239) 261-2637

Contact the Editor:

Robyn Jasko