Rita Marie Ross

My work is about the complexities of life’s recurring trials and triumphs. It is not lost on me that the media I choose to work in, copper, has a malleable nature lending itself to many forms of manipulations and is porous enough to take a patina. Those qualities at the same time parallel my web of thoughts about the piece I am working on. The flame of the ox-acetylene torch can fuse, soften, and braze the recycled metals into massive forms, and with finesse I can add delicate components to the same piece. Balance learned over time has allowed me to explore and expand. My observations of natural and man-made patterns, fuels an endless supply of ideas to use as metaphors for life before I venture into that silent space of committing my metal to a work of art. It is not a straightforward process by any means.