By Andra Bryan Stefanoni
news@joplinglobe.com
PITTSBURG, Kan. —
When workers removed copper roofing from the Pittsburg Public Library during renovations, someone had it saved.
On Thursday, it was installed at the library again, but in a much different form: as art.
Janet Lewis, a former library employee of 10 years, spent the past several months using the copper to create five interior and nine exterior circular art pieces, collectively titled “Legacy.”
City employees Thursday afternoon helped install the pieces, just in time for an expected rush during the annual Little Balkans Days book sale on Saturday.
Having grown up in an artistic family — her dad is a woodcarver, her mom is a silk screener, her sister does portraits — Lewis developed her passion for metal as a medium while at Pittsburg State University under the tutelage of art professor Marjorie Schick.
Overseas travel provided her inspiration for this project.
“I was inspired by a trip to China, where I saw hats on women in the courtyard of the Forbidden Palace, and in lines of workers in the fields,” Lewis said.
After mulling over ideas for a while, Lewis began work in earnest in April.
No money exchanged hands; Lewis created the art partly because of her relationship with the library, and partly in exchange for the remaining copper roof pieces that she can use for future artwork.
“I really appreciated having the freedom with this project to just experiment, “she said of the library board not issuing any specific parameters. “I didn’t really know exactly what I was going to do with it, until I spotted a space on the south side of the library that already was lit and was sort of out of reach of hands.”
Using chemicals, a torch, compound poison and other metalworking tools, Lewis fashioned one piece at a time by first creating a paper cone model, then fashioning a metal cone of the same circumference and shape.
She then riveted onto each cone a variety of copper pieces in various patterns, ranging from those that resemble fish scales to those that appear to be woven like a basket. No two are alike.
Lewis said she spent about 500 hours on the pieces in total, but she said the time involved wasn’t important — only that she achieved the desired end effect.
Her friends, including Bev Troglia, young adult librarian at the Pittsburg Public Library, often tease Lewis about her obsession with metalworking.
“Seriously, it’s well known that when she’s in a restaurant, she will adjust the forks if the tines are slightly bent or the handle is a little off,” Troglia said with a smile. “She’s made to work with metal, I guess.”
Verdigris
A green patina — known as verdigris — is common to copper that has been exposed to the elements for some time, similar to the Statue of Liberty and the domes of state capitol buildings. The verdigris of the Pittsburg library’s pieces ranges from light green to almost purple.
