Cosmic Things

These sculptures are a result of my exploration of the technical possibilities of using electroformed copper as a base for cloisonné: I sculpted the bodies in clay, made silicone molds from the originals, and made wax copies that I used for an electroforming substrate. The electroforming created a copper shell approximately .5mm thick. I used liquid-form enamel on the inside, and sifted and wet-packed the outside. For the single creature in Promontory, I filled the white circular cells and left the black background open, resulting in a raised, porcupine-looking pattern on its back. The patterns on the backs of the creatures in M51 were filled and stoned smooth and flash-fired to create a reflective surface. The mound in Promontory was raised from an 18mm copper sheet and sugar-fired with two different white enamels. The object that the creatures are standing on in M51 (the large piece) was made by pouring molten pewter onto a heavy baking steel.

I imagine the little creatures as otherworldly beings, their lack of features means we cannot connect with them, but we can try to interpret some of who they are through their gestures. They are blue-black, the color of deep space, with markings on their backs reminiscent of moons and stars.

In the larger of the two pieces, a small heard of them explore a swirly-metallic landscape. The title M51 refers to the first spiral galaxy ever discovered, which was poetically described my Carl Sagan in Cosmos, one of my favorite books as a child.

In the smaller sculpture, the lone creature has climbed onto a snowy promontory, gazing out at the view. How the mound was formed—by nature or someone’s hands—is unknown, as are the thoughts of the creature on top.