Cassidy Watt

My manipulation of metal combines a variety of techniques. It begins with an experimental phase, as the medium – copper and brass – reveals its resistance or obeisance to various applications of patina, torch or hammer. I employ formulas developed through experimentation as well as by accident to apply chemical fuming, resist processing and acid pickling to the metal. Scourged, scorched and scarified, the various results can be juxtaposed into a vertical totem form to create confrontations of reaction and resolution. As totems, this stacking of texture, colors and tone invokes the complexity of emotional language. The alchemy of my aesthetic finds its origin in the industrial city of my youth, which transects the high desert mountains of my chosen adult life. My metalwork twists and interlaces like the Brooklyn Bridge, but is then weathered by caustic forces reminiscent of the New Mexican sun. My Remnant totem series is created by combining orphan pieces until the disparate parts yield a conversational whole, a living history. “Metal yields, but it also endures, allowing each piece to tell its unique story.”