ultraWAVE Art Metal Studio



ultraWAVE Art Metal Studio

About The Artist

Barry Wechsler • Yorktown, NY
Metal • WHOLESALE AVAILABLE • CUSTOM COMMISSIONS

"I am lured by natural pattern, ignited by the joys of color and texture. This opens me to the call to "create", the rhythm of hand. Invoking the malleable integrity of metal and the delicate certainty of glass, I facilitate the evolving vessel - decorative and celebratory - which I ultimately offer up to others. The vessels are a dance with nature and a concentration of energies. The vessels indeed celebrate our unique and individual human lights, colors, transparencies and mysteries." -Barry Wechsler



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Q&A with the Artist

Tell us how your work is made.

Vitreous enameled art metal is sequentially fired at 1500 deg F and requires many days of precise design and execution. Vitreous enamel imparts a beautiful marriage of color, glass, light and metal. Champlevé, a specialized vitreous enamel technique used in many of the Studio's editions, balances the lustrous capacity of the surrounding metal "reserve" with the luminous wells of opaque glass inlay fired into individual cells that are acid etched and excavated from heavy gauge metal substrate. The Basse-taille technique, used for other Studio editions, engages the effect of transparent glass overlay fired onto heavy gauge metal substrate that is acid etched to multiple depths for design. The transparency of the glass overlay picks up and reflects light in a very special way, with the intricately designed metal serving as the visual foundation for this effect. After the champleve or basse-taille enameling stages, the metal reserves surrounding the glass inlay are finished with beautiful patinas and seals. The Studio also presents editions with dynamic patinas but without the enamel glass inlay.


What makes you passionate about the medium you work with?

Dating back to ancient and medieval applications of the technique for heraldic and clerical uses and rejuvenated many times over the centuries in more aesthetically refined decorative styles, champlevé is a signature technique passionately explored by ultraWAVE Art Metal Studio in a contemporary context of decorative formality and conceptual engagement. It is very exciting to have arrived at a juncture where many years of technical enameling experience meet with a life-long evolving aesthetic concept and presentation format.

What is something unique about you or your practice?

The Studio's vessels are inspired by visual impulses and contextual applications from various historical eras and world cultures. As such, the vessels are uniquely suitable for either display in a special presentation setting or for actual use as decorative functional objects.