Dave and I play on our differences to create sculpture together.  We are yin and yang.  Dave is linear thinking; inspired by high craftsmanship, process, lines & angles and order.  I have a more free-flowing way of going about things.  I am inspired by my surroundings – the environment and the people around me, and their relationship to each other.  The union of Dave’s and my diverse ways, our preferences and skills results in an art-making process that is cohesive and fulfilling.  At its simplest, I design and Dave builds.  I am the artist, Dave the craftsman.  Our partnership is a dance of communication, collaboration, give and take (with careful attention not to step on each other’s toes!). 

Our sculptures distill elements of both the natural world and the human figure into graceful forms of movement and flow.  Sensual and feminine in nature, our sculptures take on a dance-like motion.  We work to create art that simply and beautifully captures a mood, a relationship or a gesture.

Each sculpture begins in two-dimension on my sketchpad.  My images come from the infinite and innately perfect designs that already exist in nature and in human life.  Instinctively I wonder how I can recreate these forms in metal.  This instinct evolves to intuition as I capture the essence of an image in my head and translate it into an evocative sketch.  I design with an eye toward simplicity of line and form, and use curves thoughtfully to add softness and femininity. 

That elusive third dimension comes alive in a cardboard model, or more often these days using 3d-rendering software.  We try to add dimension in intriguing ways that will captivate the viewer from every angle.  As Dave joins the process you can almost hear his gears spinning as he engineers the technical aspects of the sculpture – how to build it for strength, durability and ease of installation – all with the highest level of quality and craftsmanship.  He brings my designs to life by cutting, forming and welding sheet metal, whether bronze, stainless, mild steel or aluminum.  Culling from his years of experience customizing cars and building dragsters, he works adeptly with his hands and tools to tame the rigid medium into soft, graceful shapes.  It is in the studio working like this that I see the true passion of my husband; he is at his happiest and most peaceful, and I truly believe these qualities find their way into our sculptures. 

Depending on the mood we want to convey, we finish the forms with either vivid powder-coated colors or earthy patinas.  When our dance of collaboration is done, we hope to have a sculpture that suggests its own dance-like rhythm and invites viewers to follow its motion with their eyes, their hands, their imaginations.  Perhaps as well, they will feel a subtle sense of connection with the mood or rhythm that the sculpture has captured.

Here are some shots of the finished railing for the historic Astoria, OR home I mentioned in my last post.  Powder-coated aluminum and quality workmanship — this railing will last a long, long time!

In the studio – fabrication in process

There is functional art like the kingfisher table in my last post, and then there is Pure Function.  This is the design rendering for an aluminum fence we created for a client who is restoring a beautiful old house in Astoria, OR.  Installation is occuring as I type so I will share photos soon.

Copyright 2009 Cobalt Designworks, LLC

I’ve mostly been writing about our sculpture work lately, but we also design and build functional art for our clients; artistic gates, railings, signs and furniture, for example.  We recently completed this table:

The family of one of our customers wanted to give their mother something handmade for her 80th birthday, so we created a table that matched a decorative railing we made for her last year using a kingfisher as the focal point.  They plan to have each family member — kids & adults – design & paint a ceramic tile that will be included on the tabletop of this outdoor patio table.  Quite a thoughtful gift, I’d say! 

Want a similar table?  We can create other center designs, but I am also quite fond of this table style without the decorative element, and with a glass tabletop.  We offer a myriad of powder coat color choices.

I think I’ll have Dave make one for our own patio!

By the way, here is the matching railing.

Both Rise and Shapely are examples of box construction, a design and fabrication style we  use often in our sculpture where we create a closed form from cut and formed pieces of sheet metal.  Each metal shape becomes a wall, and corners are created when two pieces are joined together with a continuous weld along its length.  This process is done until we have a hollow, closed 3-d form that appears solid.  Dave grinds the welds until they are no longer seen.  We are sometimes asked if our sculptures are cast, and I find that to be a delightful question to answer and a testament to Dave’s craftsmanship.

 I don’t remember who I overheard referring to our new sculpture as Hot Rod Angel, but I had to chuckle.  My original idea to explore bold metallic colors came from watching American Chopper and seeing the painters apply multiple layers of yellow and green to a new motorcycle tank.  It was bitchin’, and I couldn’t stop thinking about doing something like that on a sculpture.  When the idea for Rise landed on my sketchpad, I knew I found a place to try that rich color combination. 

There was a slight problem.  Dave and I have chosen not to use solvent based paints and have made a commitment to the powder coat process.  But try as I might, I couldn’t find any yellow-greens I liked in powder.

As the design for Rise started to crystallize, I got to thinking about red instead of yellow-green.  A deep, rich, translucent red.  Red like passion.  Red like the flow of blood.  A red that would enhance the meaning of Rise –  about striving to reach our human potential during our limited time on earth.  You can’t do that without quite a bit of fire and passion!  My hope was that red might help convey that, although Rise is angelic in her presence, she is very human in nature.

The choice has been well-received, with “Lollipop Red” wowing nearly everyone who sees it.   The color changes continuously throughout the day, and at the right time and angle looks as smooth & slick as enamel.  This has only fueled my desire to continue exploring rich translucent colors, and seeing just what we can do with some creative, high quality powder coat applications.  Thank you to the great folks at Masic, our powder coat supplier in Portland who has been very supportive of our work and our ideas‎.

Now onto my continued search for that perfect yellow-green…..