The Element

Trevor Mahovsky, Kristine Mifsud and Rhonda Weppler

The project began with the first Zoom conversation the three artists had together. Their practices share an interest in surface, so they focused on how surfaces, as barriers or comfort, relate to care. However, they did not see their project as pure utilitarian industrial design, but as an artwork enacting and emulating those processes of creating material and finding uses for it. Copper has had connections to both art objects and functional artifacts for thousands of years. Their video work explores the space between these two roles.

Working together online, and separately with actual materials, the group developed a segmented, all copper surface that initially stemmed from chainmail design, coupled with the salvage logic that governs the patterning of quilts. Reclaimed irregular shaped pieces of copper offcuts, gathered from industrial sources, are fit together with copper rings to shape a regular pattern which can be expanded infinitely. Adaptable and flexible, this material can resurface objects, and act as an antimicrobial membrane both in private and public spaces. While functional, the material is also visually appealing. It behaves liquid despite being metal, and can be folded or heaped into richly toned, sculptural forms.

Without following a definite path, the group’s explorations were exciting and their collaboration rewarded them through sharing ideas and skills. Ultimately, it gave them insight into the challenge of practical design. As artists we dream of new ideas and forms, but what does that mean when our ideas try to find a role beyond the relative safety of our minds, and the controlled spaces of galleries and museums?

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