Studio Notes: Vol 3

After reading this latest edition of Studio Notes make sure to head on over to the Brand New Bullfrog Creatives Online Store to see what “Snow” and other unique pieces are for sale.

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One of my most asked about collections is my Snow Collection, and what better time to talk about it than as the heat of summer is really setting in. The collection is one of my personal favorites and out of everything that I create the closest to my heart.

Conceived as part of my thesis during my final year as a BFA Metalsmithing candidate at Brooklyn’s own Pratt Institute. My work that year (and to this day) centered around the Earth and its patterns, processes, decay, creation and all of the transformations that occur around us. To this day most of my collections can still be directly connected to work that was completed during that thesis period. So much so that my notebooks are filled with so many unused designs that only now am I really scratching the surface in actually creating, editing and transforming those pieces into reality.

In a Eureka moment just before Christmas 2006 (during one of the biggest snow storms we had had since Winters in the late 90s, I decided to pour molten wax right into the snow,) while trying to find a new process that I could control to an extent, but at its core let the materials and processes speak for themselves. What at first seemed a fairly straightforward technique became a lot more technical as time went on. I was never happy with my first results and had to tweak everything from types of waxes, to temperature ranges, and even the movements in my wrist and how they affect the pour.

In the past 4 years that I have been exploring this new creative pathway I have learned the intricacies and subtleties I can achieve from the snow. I have learned the different types of snow, icy versus wet and fluffy, which gives me different textures and pieces to work with. I never thought I would say this but snow has become one of the most important mediums in my work.

In the past year the Snow has been undergoing more evolution than ever before. I traditionally just let the cast Snow speak for itself but I have been more inspired than ever before by pairing the specimens of  snow with natural crystals, stones, and amber. When choosing, I make sure that whatever is being chosen amplifies that almost uncultivated feel that the Snow begs for.