“I Once Was Underground”
Copper is usually mined, deep into the earth where the ore is removed, crushed then processed in a series of smelting steps. Again put through many other processes to finally become ready for many uses, including copper sheets.
This sculpture was created with the thoughts of adding much texture and color to copper, which is a material I love to work with. When this copper arrives at my home, it is very clean and polished. In order to add texture, I had to take the sheet of copper to a rough surface. A driveway with lots of gravel was just the spot. The sheet was laid down on the gravel and I proceeded to drive my car wheels over the copper sheet, and turned it as needed. When completed I took the copper home to my studio, cut the shapes I wanted and soldered the pieces together. Once completed I hit the copper with my torch to create more color. The result is this sculpture.
