Lesha Koop - Steel Tapestry Studio @leshakoop - Tumblr Blog

Comet

2018

This piece, the latest in my Stellated Geometry series, is a pentagonal hexecontahedron, a spheroid shape with 60 identical faces and 92 vertices. The diameter of the body is 24 inches and each vertex has an attached spike ranging from 1 to 24 inches.

Fabricated from laser cut mild steel, I welded the pieces together and finished them. The full process of making this piece is in the post below. I must confess I haven’t done this much production welding since I quit the industry, nor did I truly anticipate how many hours of finishing it would involve!

Comet is on display until April 2019 at the Sculpturewalk in Castlegar, BC. It’s installed between city hall and the police station. The Sculpturewalk is an event where people can wander Castlegar’s old downtown, and discover sculptures from various BC and North American artists. You can vote on your favourite - even purchase or lease one that you fancy.

#lesha koop #stellated geometry #steel geometry #pentagonal hexecontahedron #metal sculpture #sculpturewalk

For a sculpture that required so much accuracy, it was vital to have the pieces laser cut. The small tabs left along the cuts between the sections of each spike allowed me to cut through them part way with a cutting disc on my grinder. This turned them into hinges that could be angled correctly for me to tack before welding.

For almost all welding I used a down-hand technique, except on the tiny tips. This helped avoid overheating and blow-through, as well as controlling heat warping along the spike lengths. In abstract thought, 92 spikes doesn't seem outrageous (twelve of them are pentagonal and the remaining 80 are triangular), until one realizes that it translates to 300 seams to weld, and then finish. I also ended up welding maybe 8 or so extra, due to mistakes and spares.

I hired one of my studio mates to do the initial rough grinding on a pedestal grinder. I followed with fine finishing using a flap disc on my angle grinder. All the welds joining each spike to the body were finished using die grinders with carbide and various sanding bits. All told, I spent over 100 hours on finishing alone. Needless to say, I'll be happy to not pick up a grinder for the next few months!

The body itself is a beautiful shape and I'd like to make one at two thirds the scale, do a rust finish and just mount it in a garden.

To assemble the 60 faces, I made a jig at the correct angle of incidence (153.1787 degrees) to line up the twelve pentagonal sections. One tack joining each piece allowed for flexibility when connecting them together. While some clamping is always necessary, the whole body came together smoothly and, most importantly, accurately.

Welding was done once all the pieces were tacked together, excepting one pentagonal section that was removed in order to weld the inside seams and install the main base mount. While the overall shape of the structure is inherently strong, an extra internal rod was added to the pentagonal mounting spike to distribute the load from the main mounting point.

Once the whole body was welded and finished I began to attach the spikes.

Stellated Icosahedrons

2015 Fabricated and welded 18 gauge stainless steel, 6″ diameter (top)

2016 Fabricated and welded 10 gauge mild steel, penetrol finish, 15″ diameter (bottom 2)

Both of these are part of the Stellated Geometry series. The little stainless one needs some reworking (as in, making its pointy bits sharper and facets more defined).

The large icosahedron is finished. Once I get some better light I’ll shoot this one again so you can see its faces better. I love the look of darkened steel with the polished welds - and you can even see a touch of tempering colours in the faces!

Stellated Dodecahedron

2016 fabricated and welded 16 gauge mild steel, gun blue finish - variable dimensions of 10″ to 13″ diameter

Another piece in the series of stellated geometrical forms that I’m working on, among other creations. This one is asymmetrically stellated and was laid out by hand using numbers to keep track of both the faces and adjoining points. Given that I only had a template for the size of the faces, all the rest was planned in my sketch book and drafted onto the steel using soap stone, my tape measure and straight edge. It took 7 hours to lay out before I could even start to cut these out!

I think next few need to be put on digital files and sent to a laser-cutting shop. I’ve included some in-progress shots so you can see some of the fabrication process.

Hexahedron

10 gauge mild steel, fabricated, welded and inflated in the forge, tumbled finish.

2007

A prototype for a series I’m currently working on, this was an assignment for my "Intro to Welding" in the Blacksmith course at Kootenay School of the Arts. We were supposed to fabricate and weld a steel cube with the oxy-fuel process. I turned it into something more interesting since I’ve got some experience in those techniques.

Part of this series will be on display at the 2016 Eastside Culture Crawl in Vancouver, BC.

Fan on Panel

Copper sheet with beeswax finish, stainless steel tool, leather, duck feathers, copper wire, brass fittings, 12” x 12” x 2.5”

2015

Made almost entirely of scrap metal, feathers found on a frosty morning's walk, the fan sits forward of the copper sheet on brass mounts. The feathers are held with fine copper wire and woven leather.

Origami Birds

steel, fabricated and welded, powder coated

2013-2014

Public sculpture in a recent housing development, Richmond, BC on the 2000 block of Stolberg Road.

These steel birds were a welding contract I had with designer and metal fabricator Erick James of Sprockets & Cogs. The Songbirds each stand about 2 feet high and the crows are 4 feet tall, including tails.The three standing herons, modeled from traditional crane designs, are just over 8 feet tall. There are three large scale nesting cranes as well, not pictured here, that are roughly 4 feet tall with accordioned wings spread across the ground at a span of 5 - 6 feet.

All photos by Erick James

Urn for Coral Reefs

Cast aluminum, acrylic patina, wax 2008 A one of a kind vessel (the cape piece is the lid). Cast aluminum using the lost styrofoam technique, where the form is created by carving building polystyrene, then packed in sand, which gets burned out by the molten metal. The lid was inspired by sea slugs with their gills sticking up from their backs. The bottom piece was a deliberate emulation of a vessel by the late Thom Lynn, a dear teacher of mine.

Phoenix

pattern cast aluminum in bas relief, acrylic patina and wax finish 16" x 7" x ¾" thick 2008

A wall hanging that can be displayed inside or outdoors. The phoenix is an old symbol of life, rebirth and healing; the lily a symbol of purity, both spiritual and tangible.

I finish each cast with slightly different colours, so no two birds are exactly the same. They’ve been so popular at the Eastside Culture Crawl that I’ve sold every one I’ve cast so far!

Industrial Leftovers, series 1 and 2

Cast bronze, two series of 10 2 1/2” x 3 1/2” and 3" x 4 ½" gun bluing, ferric chloride and cupric nitrate in various combinations

2008

I cast two small series of industrial belt buckles, each finished with a unique patina. Each fits a 1 1/2” wide belt. The pipe flange on the second one sticks out about half an inch. These are tiny sculptures you can wear!

Challenge of Observation

Cast bronze, liver of sulphur 2008 This was my first attempt at life sculpting, which is like life drawing, only harder. It’s quite challenging to sculpt someone from one angle, think it’s right, then move over 5 degrees and realize how out of proportion you actually are. Her little face, which is only 2" tall from chin to mohawk tip, was difficult to get her eyes to look like they were merely glancing down. They look very Asian, in my opinion.

She is ¼ scale of the real girl, 8" tall from seat to crown. The patina is liver of sulphur, but is not waxed, as an experiment in uneven application to get the different colours, leaving the dark areas looking rather dull. At 6lb, 7oz (2.92 kilos), she’s the weight of a healthy baby.

Body Sculpture

Body Sculpture - Torc

Forged tool steel, mortise and tenon joinery, etched and finished with beeswax.

2007

The pieces in the Body Sculpture series are sculptures in their own right, but are designed to be displayed on and interact with a body. For this reason they are not jewelry. Because they are rigid, an exact fit must be created for the body they sit on. Pressure on the collar bone is carefully avoided and the curve of the shoulders and back is perfectly matched, so they are very comfortable to wear, so long as one maintains good posture.

The lower two images are my take on a Celtic torc neck-piece, which was a symbol of a freeman or woman among the ancient Celts. This is worn with the opening at the front, the two ends resting on either side of the sternum just beneath the collar bone.

I wanted to create delicate steel sculptures, departing from the heavy lines more often associated with blacksmithing. Mortise and tenon, a traditional technique, is used for all joinery - there is no welding on any of these. W-1 (water-hardening) tool steel was used on both pieces so that the form could retain its shape after being pulled slightly apart to slip over the neck. Photography by Jeremy Addington

Line Drawing

steel and fir railing 2007 I designed and built this railing for a private residence. The house was being renovated into an arts and crafts style and needed a railing that would feel very fluid and counterpoint the straight lines of the post and beam, as well as maintain a very clean look. The posts and all wood-work is by HR Pacific. This was a challenging project because the posts were already installed when I was fabricating the steel parts to fit between them. Careful measuring and fitting allowed all the pieces to slide almost effortlessly into place - no “encouragement” from a hammer required! The steel has been left bare, as the clients requested it that way.

I know it’s not to code, but that is one of the joys of working on a renovation for a designer who signs the contract.

Photography by Josh Hines

Old As War - Bosna, Hrvatska, Serbska

double plate photo etching series AP 1 of 2 (Bosna), AP 1of 2 (Hrvatska), AP 1 of 1 (Serbska)

2007

This series began with a photograph I took in Sarajevo on the former Snipers' Alley. I converted it to several exposures on acetate film, then 2 ImagOn plates, then paper. That really makes long hours of meticulous work sound so simple! The colours I chose for each plate reflect the impressions I had of the people I met on my travels.

For Bosnia: the hues of red and dark brown are, to me, welcoming and bloody at the same time. Definitely influenced by the sadness and memory of bloodshed that lingers in Sarajevo.

For Croatia: I wanted to create an atmosphere like being on the Adriatic. It was tricky getting just the right tints on these two plates for the Venetian colour feel. This image doesn’t represent exactly what the print colours look like in reality.

For Serbia: the dark tones remind me of old steel, something deeply embedded in culture and time. As with most wars, the Serbs had a long collective memory of oppression under the Turks centuries ago. Sadly, those memories were exploited by their leaders and led to many atrocities. I'd like to travel to Serbia one day.

Sarajevo Skirt

woven on a four-harness loom; cotton warp, wool weft with wool and copper inlays; fulled and sewn from uncut yardage

2007 Mrak, dakle nastiviti Zhivot i Skrshiti "Darkness, therefore life goes on and overcomes" is the proper title for this piece. Inspired by a trip to Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, it is my response to the beauty, the scars and the terrible war memories of the people and the city. Rarely have I found a place to affect my creativity so deeply in so short a time. All the motifs are symbolic of what I felt and saw there. Black bullet holes perforate throughout the textile, most visibly on the grey. The red stripe symbolizes spilled blood and continuing life. The twin grey stripes represent the Unitik Towers, twin skyscrapers that are a major landmark in Sarajevo, the tallest buildings by far in the city.

Lines of white and brown tufts represent the graveyards on the hills around Sarajevo. The white is for the newer graves, and there are loops of red that hang like drops of blood. Each pair is a larger and smaller loop of wool, like the Muslim graves with their tall headstones and short footstones oriented toward Mecca. In Sarajevo, most of the graves date from the early 1990's, almost all the people laid there are between fifteen and fourty.

The copper on the bunched edge of the yardage (opposite on the yardage to the grey section) adds a light catching element that reflects the indomitable spirit of the Bosnian people I have met and the hope my friends seem to possess for their country's future. The tucking and sculptural construction of this skirt are greatly inspired by the fashion girls at Studio Mrak in Sarajevo, and my own dislike of and lousy skills in sewing. You can view the work of Studio Mrak at www.mrak.ba/index2.htm

Self Portrait in Two Aspects

lino cut on rice paper artist proof of stage proof 18 1/2" x 29 1/2" 2005 Inspired by a life long love affair with medieval illuminated manuscripts, I chose a late 14th century Gothic style to depict a story about me when I'm not feeling so connected. Poetry, like mythology and fairy tales, uses metaphor and simile to reveal deeper truths.

I hope you can read the text in full view, because it tells the story of what's happening in the piece, and who the people are. Everything in this image has a symbolic meaning, like the recurring lilies, the garden, the phoenix, the forest.

This is a stage proof, because I intend to add a border of Gothic-style pointy leaves and hopefully some silver leafing (gold would just look wrong). It's still not finished, but some day I hope to see it completed.

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