A Copper Alliance Member
Copper in the Arts
Issue #50: June '11 - Cont'd
Joycelyn Boudreaux: A Keeper of Copper
Emerald Fog, textured canvas with a copper leaf.
Photograph courtesy of Joycelyn Boudreaux
“It was one of those big ones with wheels,” she told me, over the phone one afternoon. “It wouldn’t fit in the trash. I had this old metal grinder that I used to sharpen my shovels. I took one look at the post and thought, ‘I bet I can make that look like a tiki face!’”
At the time, Boudreaux was miserable. Her marriage had broken up, leaving her alone with four kids. A native of southwestern Louisiana, she was stuck in the middle of Florida, far from home. To make ends meet, she started studying for a license to sell insurance.
But that one tiki face multiplied into many. The original won a recycled art competition. By spring, Boudreaux was working for Dino Rachiele, finishing his copper sinks.
Success came to Boudreaux when she needed it most - to take care of her family. For several years, she worked with Rachiele, honing her craft. Finally, in May of 2010, she returned home, settling in the artsy town of Houma.
There, Copperhead Studios was born.
That first summer back in Louisiana, Boudreaux buried herself in a biography of Frank Lloyd Wright. His theories of organic design changed how she saw copper.
“He looked into a hillside and worked with what was there. He integrated the design of the house into what existed in the land,” said Boudreaux. “I thought to myself: ‘What can I make out of what naturally occurs?’”
Copper artist Joycelyn Boudreaux
Photograph courtesy of Joycelyn Boudreaux
Studying graffiti also inspired her to let go.
“Being meticulous was a detriment,” she says. “I began to work faster. I began to believe in imperfection, and the beauty that lies within in it. You can’t paint what patinas create on copper. I opened the door to working organically and let it overcome me. It gave me colors, shapes, windows beyond what classic mediums could offer.”
Boudreaux’s philosophy is that the final image is not as important as the process. Before she begins to work, she takes a mental picture of what she wants. But ultimately, she works with what the copper gives her and lets it develop on its own.
“Mother nature and I are the best of adversaries,” she claims.
Using natural elements and simple chemicals, Boudreaux has her style. Not only does it feel spiritually right, it gives her something to present to the public that has not been seen before.
Today, when customers want to buy a patina, they come to Copperhead Studios. Boudreaux takes them through her workspace. She tells the story of each piece - like a mother, talking about her children.
Since that first serendipitous basketball hoop tiki, Copperhead Studio has experienced worldwide success. Cajun Fishing Adventures invited Boudreaux to cover their entire lodge with her work. Her fleur de lis patina was bought and manufactured into trivets and cutting boards, and are currently being sold around the globe.
Most recently, Boudreaux pitched a concept to the Essence Music Festival and won a spot in their marketplace. The series depicts lusty piano men and sultry jazz singers, undulating with the mysterious vibe of classic jazz and R&B.
Her subject matter and techniques are always growing and changing. But ultimately, Boudreaux defines herself as a patineur. “I am a keeper of copper,” she says. “Copper is a limited resource, but a timeless element. It needs to be passed down.”
Resources:
Joycelyn Boundreaux, Copperhead Studios, Houma, LA
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Copper Collage: The Multidimensional Work of Nancy Scheinman
Nancy Scheinman at work in her studio.
Photo by Robert Creamer Photography
“My grandmother was a painter and sculpture and she taught me how to use perspective,” she says. “Her studio was the most fascinating room in the world.”
Not many elementary school kids can see their life path, but Nancy understood.
“I took private art lessons, ceramics, painting, and printmaking---art was a feeling of necessity,” she says. “It wasn’t something I just liked, it was something I needed to do.”
Today, collage is her medium of choice, mainly in paper form. But while at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York looking at a Dutch floral exhibition, she noticed something that changed her art forever.
“As I walked around the room, the paintings I was most attracted to were on copper panels,” she recalls. “There was this incredible luster in the way the copper caught the light.”
It was a surface she had never given much thought to before, but she quickly she realized that the slick surface of clean copper sheets allowed her to wash her detailed forms off more easily than conventional paper.
Pollard's Dream, Mixed Media collage on copper
Photo courtesy of Nancy Sheinman
“I hand emboss the sheets for a physical texture, lightly sand the copper, and then acid wash it,” says Scheinman. In her open air studio she lets the sheets cure for a week there they develop natural patina. Occasionally she will torch the copper sheet to derive unique color combinations.
“I like copper because it’s soft and pliable and I can nail tin, pieces of found copper, brass nails, as well as copper wire cloth onto the sheet,” she says. She further embellishes her work using canvas, vinyl and wood and paint to create textural stories and images. “I consider my work to be like hard quilts,” she says and indeed there are similarities to cloth by means of crafting by hand and detail. I’m very much a storyteller. Not many artists are using the composition and combination of materials I use.” And whereas her copper costs have nearly doubled over the last few years, it does not dissuade her. “It’s a surface I can not give up.”
In addition to solo and group shows, her museum exhibits have included the Portland and Tucson Museums of Art, the Civil War Museum and Library in Philadelphia, as well as museums in Venezuela, Italy and Costa Rica. And she’s fortunate that she sells most everything she painstakingly creates. “A collector from Egypt was in Santa Fe and as they were unpacking the crates of my work he bought everything,” she mentions.
Her forthcoming show, Ripped: The Allure of Collage, will be at the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington New York, October 29, 2011 through January 8, 2012.
Resources:
Resources: Nancy Scheinman, Baltimore, MD, (410) 847-7505
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Redsmith Studio: The Magic of Working with Copper
Copper artist David Walker
Photograph courtesy of David Walker
"I get copper from scrap I find on construction sites,” he says from his backyard studio in South Carolina. “I like to recycle as much as possible. One of the great things about metal is it's easy to recycle. However, as my projects get bigger I need more copper. For my
copper desk, I bought a 10' x 3' sheet of roofing copper from a roofing supply house. I use a brazing rod that is utilized in the plumbing industry so I am always looking around A/C units for ‘waste’ rods to do much of my work. There is no soldering involved when I produce a desk or bar and I use different chemicals and temperatures to achieve various patinas on the metal. The patinas are amazing because anything that comes in contact with the copper will affect it.”
Techniques used are geared to specific projects. Walker explains, "I incorporate any process I feel will achieve the goal for the piece. For my trout, I worked the copper from the front (chasing) and then the back (repousse) with chisels and about 15 different punches that I designed. The sculpture was made out of a single sheet of copper and hand hammered out of tools that I made on my blacksmith forge along with a wooden hammer. I also use the chasing and repousse methods on my copper wall plates."
Copper leaves, roses, irises and sassafras love reflect Walker's fascination with nature and can be used as realistic decorations, place settings or even napkin rings. Sometimes, he mounts his artwork, like copper orchids, in driftwood.
Copper bar kitchen by David Walker
Photograph courtesy of David Walker
Walker enjoys bringing other people's ideas to fruition and welcomes any and all commissions. Current works include form folding of copper fans. Patinas are dipped in muriatic acid, placed in a wood fire and quenched or heated with a torch while still closed yielding a dark red color inside the fold.
His beautiful copper reception desk completed in February of this year can be seen at a Seneca dentist's office. His large trout sculpture is displayed in front of City Hall in downtown Anderson, South Carolina. Commissioned by J. Peters, Walker created a 9' x 4', four-inch-thick stainless steel sign that can be viewed at 15 Market Point Drive in Greenville, SC. A custom copper panel for a bar is under production using different chemicals activated by heat to bring out his own unique patinas.
Resources:
Redsmith Studio, Anderson, South Carolina, (864) 202-0190
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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: NEWS
Declaration of Independence Stone Copy on Copper - May 28, 2011
Declaration of Independence
Photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Art
On June 11, 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee of five to draft a statement asserting the American colonies' independence from Great Britain. John Adams and the other committee members agreed that Thomas Jefferson should undertake the task. On July 4, after debate and revision, Congress approved the document and soon ordered that the declaration be written large and legibly on parchment for official purposes, and signed by all members of Congress. The Declaration of Independence traveled with the young government to Philadelphia, New York, and other temporary capitals. After 1800, it was brought to the newly created seat of government in the District of Columbia. James Madison was president when Secretary of State James Monroe spirited the document across the river to Virginia for safekeeping during the British invasion of the capital in August 1814.
By 1820, the parchment scroll was suffering the effects of time and exposure. To preserve its appearance, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams commissioned a Washington engraver, William J. Stone, to create a facsimile version on parchment, complete with signatures, to become the official representation of the treasured document. More than three years of work went into the creation of the copperplate, noted as being "executed with the greatest exactness and fidelity." It is this engraving, two hundred copies of which were distributed to surviving signers, government officials, and others, which provided the image of the Declaration of Independence that has been accepted into the popular consciousness.
Resources:
National Gallery of Art, 4th St NW, Washington, DC, (202) 737-4215
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