The Arts are my lifelong passion. After receiving a BFA from the University of Illinois, I studied Copper Enameling with Richard Loving at the Art Institute of Chicago. An MBA from Northwestern University in 1978 completed my formal arts education.
I have always been fascinated with brilliant, jewel-like color. Vitreous enamel glass, kiln fused onto copper panels, captures and celebrates light and color like no other medium I know. I delight in exploring the scintillating array of hues and luminosity: each shift in light reveals another variation.
Colors overlay and peek through each other. Just as jazz and chamber musicians explore, dialogue, and trade musical themes from one instrument to another, so color moves from one area to another on the copper.
I celebrate the wonders of the natural world: the colors, the seasons, how light plays on a leaf or a wave or emanates from a celestial nebula.
Creating copper enamel art is an adventure. The kiln interior has been heated to a glowing orange; powdered glass melts and fuses onto the copper as it is fired. It is exhilarating to explore the evolution of a composition as each successive layer adds luminosity and depth. Each composition is unique and intended to stimulate your imagination.I work on the design of the composition as a whole, but each panel is fired individually. I start with panels of solid copper which have been scoured until they gleam. Vitreous enamel (pulverized glass) is delicately sifted onto the copper. Melted by the intense heat of the kiln (1200 – 1500 degrees), the glass flows and combines and emerges from the kiln in a molten state. Magically, the vibrant and subtle hues are revealed as the panel cools. Sometimes enamel “jewels” are added to the design. The sifting–and – firing cycle is repeated until the desired effect is achieved. There can be as many as ten layers of color and multiple firings of each panel. This creates depth and texture and a sense of adventure at seeing something new at each viewing.
