Summer/ Fall 2020
Copper Leaf Studios is now open for visits by appointment!

We’re located on a private farm in Ashtabula, Ohio in the heart of wine country.
There are approximately 60 works of art on display for purchase or browsing.
We’re also here to discuss any custom needs you may have.

For safety reasons (and state mandates), masks are currently required during visits, and guests will be limited to 6 at a time – so advanced notice is kindly requested.

COVID Concerns:

Masks are required of all guests per state mandate.
Guests are limited to 6 persons at a time.
High-touch surfaces are cleaned between guests.
Air filtration systems and/ or natural ventilation will be used during & after all visits.

Have questions regarding the space or safety? Just ask.

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Hello all,

In my last newsletter, I talked about taking some time away from large commissions to go in a new direction. It’s been a while since I’ve made a whole new body of work, and I was long overdue. But I’m oh-so-pleased with the results, and excited to share them with you.

As I was laying out the parameters of my new work, I decided to go back to my roots. When I first started out as an artist many moons ago, I worked in fabric. My mom is a quilter, so I picked up the medium early in life – my first creative “language”. I began exploring metal nearly 20 years ago, but some days fabric still feels like home. So when I started the new series, I decided to treat the metal like fabric and make a sort of metal “quilt”. I experimented with a variety of techniques and textures on small pieces, but kept the colors limited so they could be arranged into larger designs.

The above piece is the start of a larger body of work I’ll be creating over the coming weeks and months. Also, because I think variations on this design would look amazing over a mantel or similar focal space, I want to open up this style to custom size and color combinations. If you have a space that would be perfect for a gorgeous one-of-a-kind piece, I’d love to design something for you.

I also experimented with etching botanical forms into metal. I’m a huge believer in turning to nature for inspiration – I grabbed my camera and wandered around our farm in the cold, admittedly not expecting to find much. But I was surprised by how beautiful the herbs and flowers were when stripped bare of all but their stalks and seedpods. The above botanical pieces were the result of this exploration – click any of the images to view more. The image at the top of this newsletter is the largest of these designs, and one I’m especially proud of.

The pieces above were a melding of both ideas, botanical imagery + patterned metal. They were inspired by a set of photos I took of dried cornflower stems, but I love that they became something more abstract when cut and etched into metal. Some people see a leaf, some see branches, some see rivers… nature has her own artistic refrain. These pieces are 8×10 inches, but I’m looking forward to exploring some larger designs in this vein soon as well.

Especially for you~

I have two special offers to share with you, dear readers. The first is an exclusive peek at the new work that is available for purchase. These pieces have not been shown publicly aside from snippets online, although I am currently in negotiations with a potential venue. I wanted to share them here first, and give you first pick before they go out into the world. Click on any of the images above to view the current collection online. I’ll be updating it as items are added or sold, or once the series finds a home. Feel free to share this link with family or friends, and many thanks if you do.

Second, a freebie. I am having a small run of postcards printed with images of the new work. If you would like one, click here to leave your address. Hang it on your fridge, share it with a friend, or leave it as a hint if you’re the hard-to-buy-for type ;) The postcards are free, and, as always, your personal information will be kept completely confidential. It’s my way of saying thank you. And should you find the artwork itself irresistible, well, you know where to find me.

(*If you’re outside the U.S., I’ll send you a lovely digital postcard.)

Thanks as always for reading, and I hope you enjoy~

~Chris

I recently had the opportunity to create what may be one of my favorite anniversary commissions ever ~ a love story told through engineering graphs.  It may have been the geekiest of romances — two college students passing love notes in the lecture hall of a biomedical engineering class — but sometimes love shows up in mysterious places.  The important thing is to embrace it when we find it.
Mina & Steve were married seven years ago.  To celebrate their anniversary, she dusted off their old textbook and asked if I could print one of the graphs onto copper.  (It didn’t much matter which one, she noted, because they had been too busy flirting to have paid attention to what any of them meant.)
I’m a sucker for a good story, and a creative challenge.  I’d met Mina once before, and thought she might be up for a playful approach to her original idea.  So I asked for some personal info — first date, favorite song, etc. — and started replacing the equation labels with things that would make the piece more meaningful.

   

Two of my favorite panels are above.  “Effects of Baby Over Time”, above right, is a cheeky attempt to include their first child who is on the way.  The graph reminded me of a growing belly, so I stretched it a bit and changed the text.  “Our Future Together”, above left, felt like the quintessential “happily ever after” sunset pic.  I cropped all but one section of the graph, and used it as the focal point of the artwork.  I photoshopped out some of the more personal info, but you can see the finished copper piece above.  Happy Anniversary to Mina & Steve ~ here’s to many more!

Take care, and hug your loved ones~
Chris