East West : the hammered Metal object
“About 9000 years ago in the Near East, man first learned to extract metal from the earth and hammer it into an object. Ever since then, the hands of metalsmiths have shaped the collective history of man.”
A traveling group exhibit of contemporary hammered metal art
11 artists from Japan and 11 artists from the United States.
Bringing together the work of highly skilled makers from two unique traditions of metal art, this cross-cultural event offers an opportunity to view and study the intricacies of this ancient art form.
Organized by: Greg Wilbur and Momoko Okada
Oregon Art Beat, Speak Copper : July, 2013
Greg Wilbur speaks of his work, collaboration, and baseball
Copper in the Arts : October, 2011
Greg Wilbur: Using An Ancient Process to Create Contemporary Artworks
“In the Western technique, you are pushing away from yourself whereas, with the Eastern style, you are working towards yourself,” he comments. “I squish, hammer and make form from one sheet of metal. I don’t do any welding or soldering. I hold the copper on a stake and hammer just behind that little area where it comes in contact with the stake, move the piece a bit and knock it down, working in concentric circles from the sheet’s center to the outer edge. Depending on the design, I do between two and 200 courses of this raising. One piece of metal could take half a million blows to reach its potential. The whole process of using just one piece of metal is sort of a Zen concept to me, something I’ve stuck with for over 30 years.”
