THREE ARTISTS

THREE TOTALLY DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES

ALL AT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY CRAFT

Last weekend, I did a demo with my screening sculptures alongside two men who worked in stone and clay. This weekend, I did a demo showing my copper repousse' technique alongside two women working in steel and mixed metal sculpture. All at the Museum of Contemporary Craft http://www.museumofcontemporarycraft.org/ in Portland, Oregon.

It was an interesting and educational experience for me in many ways.

Bonnie Meltzer (http://www.bonniemeltzer.com/), a metal and fiber artist uses electrical wire as yarn and crochets sculptures that include aluminum cable, telephone wires and various parts of recycled electronics including computers and telephones. I love to crochet with yarn, but I've never thought of buying spools of electrical wire. It was inspiring to watch Bonnie crochet this thin, shiny, red and green metallic wire in and around aluminum cable. The resulting spiral took on an undulating, organic shape that looked almost Seussical to me.

I showed various copper repousse' pieces including my oak leaf mask, animal angels and fantasy landscapes. I told interested museum goers about the history of repousse' and showed them how I created the landscape in the copper from the backside using a variety of tools that I've collected from around my home. As well as explaining how I 'paint' the piece using chemicals and heat to create the colors and textures.

Alisa Looney,www.alooney.com, a steel sculptor, had a wonderful collection of amazing macques of her large scale pieces. To demonstrate her technique, she had a book of photo illustrations showing her process step by step from cutting the steel into her unique figurative shapes to welding it all together.

It was inspiring and educational for me to learn more about these other artists and their techniques. And I learned from the museum goers, who were generous in sharing their art experiences and techniques, too.

We were representing the Pacific Northwest Sculptors Guild, a wonderful organization that includes many talented artist. To learn more visit the website at http://www.pnwsculptors.org/