Jean’s Gallery of Enamel

A showing of artist selected pieces from more than 30 years' enameling. Many are new, some are not, all are pieces that are favorites or that represented a particular challenge.

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Four Seasons

17-inch x 14-inch x 1½-inch enamel on copper in a shadow-box frame.

This work is inspired by a hydraulic-pressed copper sheet design that is reminiscent of birch forests of my childhood in Ohio. The center element is the premier pressing from the custom mold.

Like Topsy, it “just growed” into this multi-level impression of the four seasons, with bleak winter snow followed by the spring awakening, melding into the full maturity of summer, and then to the beautiful colors of autumn. Four Seasons gives us a glimpse of all the flavors of this magical part of a forest dream.

Winner of the People's Choice Award at the Radiance exhibit of the San Diego Enamel Guild in 2009.

Magic Lantern

9½-inch x 5½-inch x 1½-inch enamel on copper.

Extra dimension is created through the use of rolled and corrugated, repousséd and chased copper. Not all surfaces are enameled to produce this interesting interplay between the various textures.

Mystic Forest #4

5½-inch x 3-inch raku enamel on copper.

Raku enamel is created by plunging the piece hot from the kiln into a chamber filled with organic material that ignites from the heat of the enamel. It is immediately starved for oxygen, which produces the metallic luster. This is one of few enamel techniques that produces work not suitable for display in direct sunlight.

Palm Bark

Multimedia: 10½-inch x 8½-inch frame with palm bark, enamel, and copper.

I am always very conscious of the texture of my surroundings, and here the texture of palm bark plays against the reflective surface of the enamel. This enriches the copper in the background and is reflected by the medallion in the foreground.

Spring

33¼-inch x 19¼-inch x 1-inch industrial enamel on steel. 

Spring was inspired by the open country near Erfort, Germany. It utilizes Limoges and Scrafitto techniques to create the surfaces of the landscape and demonstrates another dimension in the art of enameling.

Waterfall

6-inch copper plate with enamel.

This work utilizes Limoges for the informal feel of water on a rocky cliff face.

Shown in:

• Transformed by Fire, Northern California Enamel Guild Ninth Annual Juried Enamel Exhibition, 2008.
• Radiance exhibit, San Diego Enamel Guild Annual Show, 2009.

Contents © 2004-2010 by Jean Vormelker, Vista, California • All Rights Reserved, worldwide

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