Stefan Alexandres looks over the elaborate copper work he created on two medieval themed doors.
I met Stefan Alexandres at a medieval-themed Orlando restaurant, complete with a museum that included a forge for working with iron and copper. Just inside the shop’s entrance, surrounded by displays of various mechanical torture devices, I was taken with two huge doors covered with stunning works of copper art. The artwork featured very ornate designs and dragons typical of the period.
I inquired about the doors, and the man who rose to respond was Alexandres. I soon learned he is the copper artist in residence at the museum when he is not teaching one of his classes at the Crealdé School of Art in Winter Park, Florida.
The doors, which were his creation, had been removed to repair damage that had occurred from misuse. The technique used to create the elaborate metal work was repoussé, a love of his since childhood.
Repoussé is a technique that dates back to antiquity, and perhaps that’s where copper artist Stefan Alexandres was first exposed to the love of his life that is second only to his wife and daughter. Not that he is that old, but Alexandres, a native of Greece began his professional life at the tender age of 12 when he became an apprentice for the traditional metal arts in Athens where he worked from 1964 to 1972. His training was based in the instrumental Byzantine Art for ritual tradition of Greek Orthodox Church. He was also involved with museum reproductions for archaic designs. After spending 2-1/2 years in the army he opened his own studio, and then traveled to Europe, Africa and Asia, before immigrating to America in 1989 with his wife and daughter.
Alexandres begins a piece with the chasing technique, following lines of the sketch he has drawn upon the metal's front surface.
Repoussé and its companion technique chasing are two processes that go hand in hand. Repoussé is a French word that describes the process of working a malleable metal from the reverse side to form an ornamental design. Chasing is a term which refers to a groove or channel that is formed by pressing down with tools from the front side of a piece of metal. A work of metal art is begun by first chasing the design from the front, and then embossing (repoussé) from the backside. These steps are alternated as many times as necessary until the work is completed to the satisfaction of the artist.
Alexandres looks at several full-sized drawings created for other projects.
This time consuming art form is not for everyone. Alexander explains that many of his students begin a project and then give up because this process doesn’t lend well to instant gratification. The process requires patience and perseverance to slowly expand and shape the thin sheets of copper without breaking through.
But before any work can begin, there has to be a plan. Alexandres was good enough to illustrate the process.
“I start all of my projects with a scale drawing on a small piece of paper to make sure I have the correct idea. It is easier to make corrections on paper than copper. When I feel I have what I want, I expand the drawing to a full-size and then transfer that to the copper sheeting. I make my own drawings based on my imagination. I draw inspiration from history, mythologies, folktales and real life. Preliminary drawings are my means of exploring the potential of an idea by saturating it with many visual possibilities. These drawings are overlaid and combined together to create a new assemblage that captures the original inspiration. The final piece is often the culmination of these new visual ideas integrated with visions I had documented years ago in small sketches,” he said.
A box of half-finished copper hearts sits on a bench in Alexandres' studio.
Alexandres says he always recommends students make a heart for their first repoussé project because the process is a quick introduction that teaches the basics of creating a design, and then they can expand on the basic shape that by adding other features such as words or flowers. In his St Cloud, Florida studio a box of copper hearts stand as a testimony to those numerous and varied heart projects. Copper artwork in various stages of completion hangs from every available rafter and wall of his studio and each has a story behind it.
“Over the years I’ve done a lot of trees because they give you a freedom to let the work take on its own direction. With a horse, for example, you have to worry about proportions, but trees grow as they wish and proportions are not a critical issue, within reason,” he said.
That said, Alexandres trees are not just simple trees. Looking more closely, in the detail of the tree bark, faces peer out from within the trunk, adding additional points of interest. This 32” x 28” piece is titled “Devotion.” He explains the faces by saying, “In some cultures, humans regard plant forms as spirit beings, separate from him but sharing in life and respected as such, here is that modern man must respect nature as a life form.”
This 32” x 28” piece is titled “Devotion.” He explains the faces by saying, “In some cultures, humans regard plant forms as spirit beings, separate from him but sharing in life and respected as such, here is that modern man must respect nature as a life form.”
Enamel on copper is another passion of his, and jewelry of a different sort is his latest direction. “The things I’m doing are not like anything you’ll find anywhere. I’m working on a series of titanium rings that are quite unusual. No other artist is doing what I’m going. If there is one, I want to meet them,” he said smiling.
When working on a small flat piece of copper Alexander sets his work in a container of German pitch to anchor it in place, allowing for detailed work without movement. For larger pieces he uses common roofing tar because of the cost. German pitch, he cautions, is very expensive. As he moves his torch over the roofing tar to soften it beneath his work, the acrid smell rises to fill his studio. Once the pitch has been softened, the copper can be worked carefully until the pitch begins to harden again, then the torch must be reapplied to maintain the desired resistance beneath the metal. Once the work has been completed from the back side, the metal must be heated for removal, cleaned of the pitch and repositioned for chasing work on the front side.
To achieve the various thicknesses and intricate detail he desires, creating the tools to create the art is the first challenge. Alexandres hefts his tool bin and moves it across the studio, setting it down with a pronounced thud. From its many pockets tools protrude a plethora of steel tools of various shapes and sizes. He also has a collection of hammers that would lead one to believe that he never met a hammer he didn’t like. One work bench is literally surrounded by hammers hanging from a rack. Each rack is packed with a variety of different weights and shapes designed to achieve a variety of affects.
“You can spend thousands of dollars on tools. Copper or any type of metal artwork is a limited market and the potential for sales is small, so the tools are therefore expensive. It’s not like a bicycle, where every home has at least one. So, every artist has their own inventions. I have never seen two artists use the same tools. I have developed my own, but other artists would have something similar to substitute,” he explained.
To illustrate his point Alexandres moved to the table he uses for hot work and started pulling out pieces that he has created to form various shapes, and one was the shortened handle of a baseball bat. He uses it to support his work when forming a large curving shape such as a metal mask.
For the most part, Alexandres' selection of tools were created for specific techniques.
Alexandres works with all types of copper, silver and gold but the bulk of his work is based in copper. Although the bulk of his work is done on the middle weights of copper sheeting, he has worked with all thicknesses of copper from foil to the heavier gauges, selecting the appropriate thickness that matches the ultimate ambition of that day’s vision.
To complete a piece of copper artwork, Alexandres uses a variety of color effects are created by a combination of several methods and techniques. Special paints, metal stains, traditional patinas and gold or silver leaf create more dramatic effects. In the end, bees wax or clear varnish protects and retains the finish. In my next article, we will delve into the techniques Alexandres uses to color or patina his artwork.
In the meantime, you can explore more images of his work at his website, http://stefanalexandres.com/Art/Home.html. If you are inclined to study the techniques of chasing and repoussé, perhaps you would be interested in one of his classes at Crealdé School of Art.
Should you have the urge to jump right in and start a project of your own right away, QuickShipMetals.com has just the right piece of copper waiting for a creative imagination.
