This vessel marks a beginning — the first piece created using the ancient technique of repoussé, started during a workshop led by a cherished friend, mentor, and repoussé master, and completed in time to be brought to a metals conference where Il Maestro Acquafresca was speaking. He was so moved by the work that he placed it in the showcase alongside his own — a moment that speaks for itself.
The vessel is raised from copper sheet, its warm reddish surface alive with the creatures of a deep and restless sea. An octopus dominates the front, its tentacles reaching and curling across nearly the entire surface — pushed into dramatic three-dimensional relief through repoussé, one of the oldest known metalworking techniques, in which the image is coaxed up from within the metal itself using hammers and punches. The reverse reveals a crab making its way through undulating seaweed, the composition wrapping the vessel in continuous underwater narrative. Sterling silver wire defines the foot, grounding the piece with a quiet ring of contrast against the copper above. Inside, the walls are lined with 24-karat gold leaf, their warm luminous glow visible at the rim — an interior world as considered as the exterior one.
First Place, River Market Regional Exhibition, Kansas City, MO, 2014
Juror: Antonia Boström, Director of Curatorial Affairs, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Artist's Personal Collection
One of a Kind
Dimensions: 10" height x 4" diameter
Materials: Copper, sterling silver, 24-karat gold leaf
Year Completed: 2014
Photography by Image Quest Photography/Terry Weckbaugh
This vessel marks a beginning — the first piece created using the ancient technique of repoussé, started during a workshop led by a cherished friend, mentor, and repoussé master, and completed in time to be brought to a metals conference where Il Maestro Acquafresca was speaking. He was so moved by the work that he placed it in the showcase alongside his own — a moment that speaks for itself.
The vessel is raised from copper sheet, its warm reddish surface alive with the creatures of a deep and restless sea. An octopus dominates the front, its tentacles reaching and curling across nearly the entire surface — pushed into dramatic three-dimensional relief through repoussé, one of the oldest known metalworking techniques, in which the image is coaxed up from within the metal itself using hammers and punches. The reverse reveals a crab making its way through undulating seaweed, the composition wrapping the vessel in continuous underwater narrative. Sterling silver wire defines the foot, grounding the piece with a quiet ring of contrast against the copper above. Inside, the walls are lined with 24-karat gold leaf, their warm luminous glow visible at the rim — an interior world as considered as the exterior one.
First Place, River Market Regional Exhibition, Kansas City, MO, 2014
Juror: Antonia Boström, Director of Curatorial Affairs, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Artist's Personal Collection
One of a Kind
Dimensions: 10" height x 4" diameter
Materials: Copper, sterling silver, 24-karat gold leaf
Year Completed: 2014
Photography by Image Quest Photography/Terry Weckbaugh
