Firesmith Copper

FireSmith Copper is a husband and wife team of artists who began their company in the rugged beauty of the Oregon mountains. Jennah grew up in Alaska, Paul in Northern California. They have traveled around the world but inevitably found themselves returning to the land that has always been their real home. Jennah graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in studio arts and art history. Paul is a carpenter who put his skills to use in historic restoration of Oregon's cherished covered bridges. Together their love for the arts grew and immediately after Jennah's graduation they began their beloved company in a medium they both admired. Within the past 10 years their company has expanded all over the Western United States and they are known for commercial installations and artistic contributions within their local and regional communities.

Every design is inspired by their environment, travels, and personal experiences, but most importantly, their shared experiences. The inspirations for the designs they create were rooted from their upbringings in the Pacific Northwest and are continually influenced by their travels locally and around the world. By using only a heat patina and free hand craftsmanship the process dictates that every piece is an original, every piece is its

own unique expression. Every work is truly one of a kind at FireSmith Copper. “Our home is in Oregon, but our travels have brought us around the world. We find that every piece of art we create reflects our international exposure while merging our love, inspiration, and appreciation for our home along the Pacific Coast into one original work of art. We strive to create each design as a personal story of our unique and extraordinary experiences, travels, and the desire of our expression. Each work is a reflection of these moments in our lives, a work that is completely unique to a specific moment in time, tempered by every experience of our shared, and individual, lives and forged into one original work of art.”

-Jennah Litecky Yost and Paul Yost

We are a husband and wife team of artists who use the purest copper, manipulated to show its elemental characteristics and tempered with free hand craftsmanship, to create works of art whose function is solely aesthetic. The care of the process begins before we even have the base material, copper. Our sheet copper is specifically chosen for its purity since we have found that the purity of the copper can affect the vibrancy of the colors, one of the most important aspects of our work. The multidimensional quality of the finished work stems from multiple layers of action and various processes on the surface of the copper. The design process begins when the copper is worked with a rotating disc to ensure a blemish-free, pristine canvas on which the color will be deposited. This tool allows us to create the first layer of the image and use the reflective quality of the copper to create an illusory background. Next, color is laid on the canvas through a process of oxidation to create a patina on the surface of the metal. We paint, freehand, the color on the copper with a flame torch. The process is very much like using a paintbrush, with the flame acting as the brush, depositing color onto the surface when it physically touches the copper. In order to achieve the vibrant colors, this process must be repeated, with the copper cooling in between each meeting with the flame. After color is introduced, mark making is completed with various abrasive hand tools. These hand tools remove the color from the copper and expose the raw metal underneath. After the first mark making is complete, we recolor the copper with the torch flame and again mark the copper with our abrasive tools. This process is repeated numerous times to layer the color and design work and create the images on the copper.

The marks that are laid on the surface are all freehand; the imperfect movement of the human hand is evident in the individual abstract and representational designs that adorn the surface of the copper. The surface design is completed by using punches, hammers, and other common metalworking tools to embellish the facade and ready the completed piece for framing. A wood frame is hand made by the artist and altered as needed based on the requirements of the piece. The finished sheet of copper is fabricated around the wooden frame to classically exhibit the copper in its desired space. Finally, the finished copper canvas is clear coated to preserve luminosity, protect the design, and prevent further oxidation. We work with the copper, not on the copper. The metal itself is easily manipulated, yet very particular in what it accepts. The color and mark making are extremely tedious processes and must be completed with care since every mark that is made on the copper remains and cannot be erased. What is laid on the copper will stay and can only be enhanced by the continuation of the burning and abrasive techniques we use. The work is complete when the copper tells us it is finished– not before–not after. The designs we create are ephemeral and live momentarily in the studio. Each day manifests a specific intention to the design, which is idiosyncratic to our way being at the time and cannot be replicated. This fleeting inspiration in the design process creates a distinction between works, a fingerprint of our state of mind. Even when we attempt to replicate a design, the result is a direct reflection of our state of being at the moment of its creation. Each work of art has a life and intention of its own. No two works are the same. Every work is one of a kind at FireSmith Copper.