A Copper Alliance Member
Copper in the Arts
Issue #37: May '10 - Cont'd
Lyall's Labors: Giving New Life to Reclaimed Copper
Motor Head series using reclaimed
copper parts
Photograph courtesy of Bob Lyall
The Air Force veteran honed his skills as a journeyman sheet metal worker in the 1980s, but decided to pursue his passion for the art of metal and travel with his family to shows, rather than away from his family on metal contract jobs.
“My wife and I were trying to find out how to make some extra money,” explains Lyall. “I was always more arts and crafts oriented. I went to crafts shows and became addicted to it. Then I did more art shows on the side from my sheet metal work and in one weekend made $6,000. I thought, ‘This is good.’”
That’s all the encouragement Lyall needed. He stocked up on the proper tools to grow his trade and continued to express his creative side using the four main food groups of metal: steel, stainless, brass and copper. But there was a twist to Lyall’s medium of metal.
“My supply house is the scrap yard,” he says. “Half of the work is already done for me, there’s little to no waste material and it saves money.”
The Des Moines native gained access to a particular recycled copper gem of state history in the late 1990s, when he gained access to sheets of copper that were being removed from the Iowa state capitol roof during its renovation. Lyall purchased the lovely patina-weathered copper, dating back to the late 1800s, from a scrap yard, stored it, and transformed it into a line of art he calls the “Capitol Copper Collection.”
Capital copper earrings
Photograph courtesy of Bob Lyall
With the copper naturally pre-shaded in swirls of green and dark brown, there’s no need for chemically creating a patina --Lyall just sprays a finish sheen of clear lacquer. He shapes, bends and soft solders with tools such as hand stamps, a hydraulic press, aviation snips, a chisel and a stomp shear. Lyall likens his copper and metal work to 19th century farming. “I use the same tools, the same equipment, I just change the shapes.”
He also makes his artwork easily customizable for his customers. “I attach different metal pieces together like Legos with bolts, so if someone doesn’t like certain parts of the work, I can change it out,” he says.
Lyall recently finished a new series of work from recycled copper down spouting. With one end cinched close and the other end open, he says folks like to use it in a unique number of ways – from holding nuts or dried flowers to a pile of mail.
Artwork by Lyall’s Labors is available for purchase at the Historical Building Museum Store and the Central Iowa Artist Co-op Store (Merle Hay Mall) in Des Moines. Lyall will also be appearing at art shows throughout the Midwest this summer.
Resources:
Lyall's Labors, 13097 Summerset Rd., Indianola, IA, (515) 961-0106
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Dana Draper: Painting with Patinas
Copper panel by Dana Draper
Photograph courtesy of Dana Draper
How did his interest in copper come about? “There was just a little scrap of some copper that I had,” he says. “I experimented with household items like rock salt, vinegar, and lemon, and I found that I liked the response that was happening on the metal. So, then, I slowly started acquiring copper to work on, and from there, I started to look for recipes that were more complex than just household items.”
Now, Draper purchases various acids from Sculpt Nouveau, a company that he has found to be very helpful if he wants to create a particular color on metal. He tends to get his copper from roofing and refrigeration suppliers, however, and he sometimes leaves the copper outside, allowing the elements to change its color. This can be tricky, as the San Francisco Bay area doesn’t readily change copper to the green patina that people have come to expect.
“In San Francisco, there’s a relatively new museum called De Young Museum that is clad in copper,” says Draper. “And all of the docents were saying, ‘Oh, yes, we can’t wait until this wonderful green patina develops.’ Well, this never developed. If you go to New York City or Zurich, Switzerland, there are a whole number of rooftops that are clad in copper, and they’ve got this wonderful green patina. So, it really depends on the acidity in the atmosphere. The museum’s building has begun to turn a tobacco color," he says.
Eve and Koi
Photograph courtesy of Dana Draper
He also sometimes applies a patina to the copper and then, uses an abrasive to essentially “erase” the patina in certain areas, bringing out the original luster of the copper until a form appears. He uses this technique to create the shading, depth, and dimension that he would normally create with paints or sketch pencils.
After seeing paintings on narrow beams in the ceiling of a church in Sicily, Draper has begun to explore copper figures in 72” tall pieces that are only 5” wide. “I like the idea of trying to develop enough motion to reference the figure without having to include the whole figure,” he says.
The human form is Draper’s greatest inspiration, but he also works with abstract forms, often using stencils and templates. He enjoys producing commissions, for which he often develops a series of drawings, followed by a model or a sketch to scale. After he has agreement and approval from the client, he obtains a release from them indicating that they understand the final work may have variations in colors and shapes. Most of his installations are indoors and in the San Francisco Bay area, although he has an interest in creating more work that would change on its own over time from the elements.
As for his love of copper, Draper says, “It’s just a wonderful, warm material. I appreciate the poetry of it.”
Resources:
Dana Draper, Studio 345B, 480 Gate 5 Rd., Sausalito, CA, (415) 383-7213
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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
Julia Child’s Copper Pots: A Homecoming in Copper
Copper pots from Bon Appétit: Julia Child's Kitchen at the Smithsonian
Photograph by Richard Strauss, Smithsonian Institution.
The National Museum of American History in Washington DC recently acquired thirty worn but beautiful copper pots as well as utensils that belonged to Julia Child. The new acquisition, which completes the Julia Child kitchen is on display in the exhibition, Bon Appétit! Julia Child’s Kitchen at the Smithsonian. “Like all cooks, she had certain memories associated with many of her tools and utensils,” explains Rayna Green, Co-curator of Julia Child's Kitchen at the Smithsonian. “Those memories came from the places where she had lived and cooked during her time in France. In the case of the copper pots, most of them came from E. Dehillerin, (the well-known cooking) store in Paris,” Green says. Even today the store continues to sell an abundance of copper cookware.
Julia Child and her husband Paul lived in France between 1948 and 1952 as she studied French cooking and acquired her copper pans and pots. She continued to use her copper pots for 45 years following their return to the United States. In her autobiography, My Life in France, she wrote about the pegboard: “It did my heart good to see rows of gleaming knives and copper pots at the ready.” She understood that specific tools are necessary for specific tasks. “Like many people well trained in cookery, she knew that copper distributes the heat evenly in the pan, thus for the kind of precision that French cooking demands, copper is generally the best medium,” Green says. “The French and Italians have been making and using copper pots for a very long time and copper has a long association with both fine cooking and home cooking in those countries,” she added.
Beginning in 2001, the museum staff laboriously disassembled, cataloged and then reassembled the contents in Child’s home and her kitchen now lives on in the museum gallery. The kitchen display is supplemented with videos and photographs, allowing visitors to explore Child’s early life and career. “All of the experience evokes an interesting and, as we've come to see it over the years, incredibly personal and collective appreciation for kitchens, for pots and kitchen bookshelves, for refrigerator magnets, for giant knives, and above all, for Julia,” Green acknowledges.
Resources:
The National Museum of American History, 14th St. and Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C., (202) 633-1000
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Copper in the Arts: NEWS
Huan Public Copper Sculpture to Debut in San Francisco's Civic Center - May 05, 2010
Zhang Huan, Three Heads Six Arms, 2008
Photograph courtesy of the Pace Gallery, New York
On Wednesday, May 12, the colossal sculpture will make its world premiere in the heart of San Francisco’s Civic Center as part of the Shanghai-San Francisco Sister City 30th Anniversary Celebration. Standing over 26 feet tall and weighing almost 15 tons, the copper sculpture is the artist’s largest work to date and is part of an important series of monumental works depicting the extremities of Buddhist deities. Three Heads Six Arms, courtesy of the artist and The Pace Gallery, New York, will be on loan to San Francisco through 2011.
“Receiving this Access to Artistic Excellence Grant from the NEA is a tremendous honor and an incredible affirmation of the importance of this project," according to Director of Cultural Affairs Luis R. Cancel. "This grant has afforded us a unique opportunity to bring to San Francisco a work by one of the world’s most influential and provocative contemporary artists. This sculpture has never before been seen and we are thrilled to debut and share it with new audiences.”
Access to Artistic Excellence grants support the creation and presentation of work in the disciplines of dance, design, folk and traditional arts, literature, media arts, museums, music, musical theater, presenting, theater, and visual arts. Projects include commissions, residencies, workshops, performances, exhibitions, publications, festivals, and professional development programs. This latest round of funding for fiscal year 2010 includes grants to local arts agencies for multidisciplinary projects, such as community-wide festivals and public art commissions. Through the Access to Artistic Excellence category, the NEA will award 950 grants out of 1,581 eligible applications, for a total of $27,457,500. The San Francisco Arts Commission received the second highest Access to Artistic Excellence grant in the Local Arts Agencies category.
Resources:
San Francisco Civic Center Plaza, Polk St. and McAllister St., San Francisco, CA
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