A Copper Alliance Member
Copper in the Arts
Issue #21: January '09 - Cont'd
Fountains by Design
Artist David Perlman of Fountains by Design
Photograph by Jack Meredith
Luckily he doesn't have to. His sculptures and fountains have gained a following among clients ranging from major corporations like Whole Foods to everyday people who fall in love with his unique pieces and want one in their home or garden. Perlman feels fortunate to make a living as an artist.
“Even when there are bumps–and it's been pretty tight sometimes–nothing compares to being able to connect with people through what you create," he remarks.
Watching Perlman in his studio, trailed by his beloved dogs as he heats up the metal fittings for his latest piece, he does seem to be in his element, like he's been doing this forever.
But it turns out Perlman arrived at his vocation rather late, and more through serendipity than calculation. A former sociologist, he happened to meet successful Dutch sculptor Hans Van De Bovenkamp—it was a relationship that changed his life.
Copper fountains created by David Perlman
Photograph by Jack Meredith
Perlman, who has been working solo for ten years, is best known for his copper fountains. These surround us as we talk in his studio this chilly November afternoon. Some are blindingly bright and polished, others weathered into the famous patinas that make copper so distinct from other metals.
He prefers copper because of its unique qualities, tying in the metal’s Feng Shui, healing and symbolic attributes to name a few. He wouldn't think of using anything else, even though the current economic climate is tough and the price of copper has gone up.
Purchasing his copper from Ryerson, a major distributor in Denver, Colorado, Perlman creates everything from stock fountains to elaborate custom installations. Most of what is in the studio this day is stock, and also some prototypes for some large-scale public works. Perlman gestures toward one copper fountain, a design with spiraling leaves in an organic curve: "This one is the Tree of Life, probably my trademark fountain.”
Another favorite design is the Water Shrine, whose modest symmetry showcases the copper material. Its simplicity is effective in a range of sizes from extra small to jumbo. And, there is the Metropolis, a striking, impressionistic cityscape, also producible on a large scale—a project he did for Whole Foods in Pasadena, California.
Overall, Perlman's present mood is one of confidence and optimism. After ten years, he's coming into his own and finding an even stronger creative voice. He is negotiating to produce several large-scale fine art projects as well as working on some new fountain designs.
When asked if he will need a bigger studio, he looks around and grins. "Maybe,” he says. “With room for what I'm working on and room for the dogs to hang out."
Resources:
Fountains by Design, David Perlman, Lyons, CO, (303) 507-5884
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Mike Dumas Copper Designs: Where Old World Meets Southwest
Copper cactus cabinet
Photograph courtesy of Mike Dumas Copper Designs
Most of his work is custom, although people can order the items that are pictured on his website. He keeps a small amount of stock, but most of the pieces are made to order for clients all over the U.S., including Hawaii. He also installs the larger pieces, if necessary.
Dumas started out in the mid 1990’s building wood furniture and incorporating a little bit of copper into the pieces for accents. “The more I worked with it, the more interested I got in copper,” he says. In the late 1990’s, he began to make full copper pieces. “Copper just seems to be such a versatile material. Sometimes, just a piece of copper in a piece of furniture makes all the difference in the world. We do tables, we do lights, we do mirrors and range heads. I’m still finding uses for it.” He got to the point where he was working almost exclusively with copper, but now, he has begun to mix copper and wood together again.
Dumas’s work involves fabrication rather than casting and focuses on a western and “old-world” style. He’s always up for trying something new, however. “I’d like to get into some hot forging of copper,” he says, “and I’d like to experiment with electroplating.”
His business is very much a family affair. His wife, Julie, creates glasswork that also sometimes incorporates copper. Rather than the lead that is traditionally used in stained glass, Julie sometimes uses copper foil. She takes the pieces of glass, wraps them in a thin piece of copper foil, and solders them together. She has also fused copper screen into clear glass. One piece that they created is a textured copper sconce with amber glass fused into the metal.
Their 24-year old son, Coleman, is now welding heavy sinks out of copper for the business. He apprenticed with Dumas for about four years. Dumas’s two younger sons have also learned how to fabricate copper, but Coleman is the one (so far) who has become very interested in working with metal.
Dumas is known for his hand-texturing of copper and for his original patinas. His texturing techniques are a result of experimentation using different hammers and backgrounds.
“That’s what I love about copper,” he says. “There are so many things you can do to it. You take a bright, shiny sheet of copper, and you can transform it into something that you wouldn’t even recognize from what you started with.” He has even developed his own tooling for creating the textures, and he sometimes sells the textured sheets by the foot for customers who want to make something themselves without the labor-intensive work of texturing the copper.
One of his textures is hand-corrugated to create a pleated effect. He makes a jig out of wood and creases one side of the copper. Then, he flips it over and creases the other side. Since the work is done by hand, he must go back and even it out to make it symmetrical.
Copper and mica chandelier by Mike Dumas Copper Designs
Photograph courtesy of Mike Dumas Copper Designs
Because they’re conveniently located in his town of St. George, Dumas gets most of his copper from Air Cold Supply, which primarily services the air conditioning industry. He loves the idea that recycled copper could have had many lives by the time it reaches him. “When you get a sheet of recycled copper,” he says, “part of that might have been copper from the 1700’s for all you know.”
Resources:
Mike Dumas Copper Designs, Inc., 293 N. Bluff St., St. George, UT, (435) 656-4977
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Copper in the Arts: EVENTS
- Palm Beach Jewelry, Art, and Antique Show
Feb 15, '13 - Feb 18, '13 - Native Expressions: Dave McGary’s Bronze Realism
Mar 7, '13 - Jun 30, '13 - Evolving Character Head Demonstration with John Coleman
Mar 9, '13 - Mar 9, '13 - More Upcoming Events...
Copper in the Arts: HISTORY
Stickley’s Copper Arts & Crafts: History Hewn and Hammered
The Gustav Stickley Museum
Photograph by Regina Jasko
“Drawer pulls, key escutcheons and hinges were his early metalwork which he did concurrently with the furniture, and he outsourced the manufacturing,” says Allen Breed, a Trustee of the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms in Morris Plains, NJ. “[Take the] pull for example. You have a back plate and a ring; the ring is cast (outsourced) and the plate would have been hammered in-house, then patinated together. To set up a foundry just starting out would have been a little ambitious,” Breed said. The museum, actually a custom home built in 1910-1911, contains the single most comprehensive source of Stickley metalwork. Second to that would be Crab Tree Farm outside of Chicago, which also contains Stickley copper work. Other than that notes Breed, individual museums and private collections hold the rest of Gustav Stickley’s copper works.
Stickley promoted most of his work, both copper and wood, through his successful magazine, The Craftsman, which he published from 1901 through 1916. In it he spoke about different patinas, hammering techniques, and ways to affect copper. This was, after all, the basis for the Arts and Crafts movement, the idea that everybody could create beautiful designs in their own home. Though other Arts and Crafts metal workers were using copper, like Roycroft and Green & Green, what set Stickley apart was his understanding of chemicals.
“His innovation was in his patinas, which were considered trade secrets,” Breed acknowledged. “Gustav had a two-toned patina for copper. A dark patina would be lightly run off so the high points of the copper would be cleaned and brighter, but the craters made by the hammer would still have black in it. Then he’d overlay a brown patina. It gave the pieces a third dimension,” Breed said. The result was patinas that showed more variety than his competitors and an increasing demand for his work.
Copper fireplace cover by Gustav Stickley
Photograph by Regina Jasko
“The Craftsman promoted a full product line; lighting, furniture, door knockers, decorative hinges and much more,” Breed says.
He not only wrote articles about various patinas and the best ones for iron, brass and copper, but kept readers enthralled with his clean, simple designs. Though it’s widely known that Stickley copied initial designs from several British companies, according to Breed, he improved on them, expanding the patinas, using heavier gauge copper, and formed and hammered his metalwork differently.
Copper was the metal second only to silver, but few could afford a silversmith at the time. “Copper was easily worked, the patination was reasonably well developed, and certainly in Europe, the working of metal, especially copper, was already advanced,” Breed says.
In today’s market, Stickley’s original metal work still commands a respectable price. An original exterior lantern for example can fetch upwards of $2,000, while his furniture will bring in over $10,000. This shouldn’t suggest that his copper and metal work aren’t well known.
“People may be more aware of his metalwork than they know. They just don’t have a name to put to it,” Breed says. The Stickley designs are nearly universal by now.
At the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms, a dozen copper light fixtures in the living room, original to the house, are always on display. Additionally there are candle holders, crumbers, strap hinges, and half a dozen copper trays on the sideboard in the dining room.
Perhaps the best commentary about Stickley’s work comes from the man himself. In The Craftsmen he once wrote that his hope was that the magazine would demonstrate, “how to create an environment where simple needs are met in a simple direct way; in pointing out how a home should be a place where lives may be lived in happiness, and where good work may be done because of the silent influences of space, freedom and sincerity.”
Resources:
The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms, 2352 Rt. 10-West, # 5, Morris Plains, NJ, (973) 540-1167
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Copper in the Arts: NEWS
19th Annual Celebration of Fine Art in Scottsdale - January 19, 2009
Sherri & Ralph Meldrum from Cave Creek,
Arizona will be displaying their copper
wallhangings at the 2009 Celebration of
Fine Art, commemorating their 7th year
in the show
Art & Antiques magazine has called the show "One of the West’s Premier Art Events. With over 50,000 visitors, the event is designed so that first time buyers to serious collectors are comfortable in the inviting atmosphere.
“Our visitors can meet the artists and watch them work in the full spectrum of art media in all styles and a wide variety of subjects,” said Susan Morrow Potje, Show Director and Co-Owner. “Being able to visit with the artists, who are all are willing to share their passion, is really what makes this show so special. Collectors come back year after year and bring their friends with whom they want to share this magical experience—it’s like visiting 100 artists’ studios in one day.”
In addition to the 40,000 square feet of interior exhibit space filled with works by known and emerging artists, over 100 works of outdoor sculpture can be found in the one-acre sculpture garden.
For the last two years, sales have reached $5,000,000 each year. The Celebration of Fine Art generated $41,000,000 in economic impact for the city due to off-site spending by out-of-town visitors. Sales have consistently increased each year.
The show is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week, through March 29, 2009.
Resources:
The Celebration of Fine Art, 8602 E. Cortez St., Scottsdale, AZ, (480) 443-7695
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