By Ron Evans
Born and raised in Washington State, Jessica Grace da Costa became an artist and lover of nature at an early age. Mentored by her artist grandmother who worked in several mediums including oil-painting, da Costa became a lifelong learner of various mediums.
Later on, she reacquainted herself with her love of sculpture after moving to Portland, Oregon in 1994. She also exhibited paintings in Newport RI while earning her Cosmetology degree - she then learned the art of copper weathervanes by apprenticing in New England in the mid-1990’s. Her passion for researching, sketching, and building each piece of her own sculptural copper art has remained constant. Her signature nature and myth inspired art continues to capture the attention of collectors nationwide.
After a few other pit stops, da Costa landed in Wenatchee four years ago. We reached out for a QnA with the artist to chat about her inspirations, processes and logistics of creatively working with metal.
How did you get into metal work? And tell us about the techniques/tools you are using to create your pieces.
Surprisingly, though I’ve created art my entire life, I didn’t get into metal work until my early twenties when I was looking for an artistic side job to supplement my career as a stylist. I answered an ad in the local paper for metal shop help and worked my way into a paid apprenticeship under a Master Craftsman in the art of sculptured copper weathervanes.
I learned traditional metal working techniques such as embossing, chasing and repousse. I sculpted countless custom weathervanes at the small New England gallery and shop where I made them alongside other working gallery artists.
Using a paper design I pencil the outline of a finished composition onto a soft copper sheet. After the design is transferred to the sheet I cut it out using hand shears and from there I use various hand tools, mainly hammers to punch the outline
Embossing and raising the surrounding area of detail lines by cold forging. This makes the bodied copper sheet 3-dimensional and at the same time it becomes work-hardened and no longer soft. Once each side of a piece is bodied I decide if I will use additional pieces to create the desired 3-D effect. Whether or not I use added pieces, it is at this time I solder each piece together.
This is done primarily using an industrial size iron solder, and Flux. This process leaves some unwanted residue that is washed and/or sanded off the finished piece. Once the work is clean, a natural patina can be used or metal leaf applied - although I love to see the copper years later after it naturally oxidizes and colors to a soft verdigris ( green ). I try to work as close as possible to the metal’s plasticity limit and in doing this, the laws of nature sometimes present themselves in the form of a mistake. When this occurs, opportunities or changes to deepen my understanding of this metal arise. I can turn a small unintentional mark into a multitude of matching marks that give interesting texture to the piece. So in making mistakes, discoveries are made as well and this adds to my mental library of stories.
As I work I make up stories that connect me to the metal in more than a physical way and this keeps me energized with knowledge that there is always something new to learn. I can honestly say I’m never bored.
Metal is a much needed commodity of course. Does the price of materials you work with fluctuate often?
Yes, it is a much needed commodity and I laugh sometimes at the side-eyed question of ‘where do you get your copper?’ I think it comes from the same place that the copper from your computer, your refrigerator or any other necessity from modern day life comes from. So I never know how to answer that, but yes it’s very expensive and it just seems to get more expensive every year.
Elements of nature mingle with fantasy and whimsical, dream-like shapes in many of your works. Talk about the style and themes you mostly enjoy working with.
My interest lies in sharing nature’s predictable repetitiveness and in changing unpredictable forms. I hope to capture that mysterious element of nature that lives and to hold it fixed in copper so that even years later it can be looked upon with fresh eyes that breathe life back to its form.
It’s all about stories and dreams and the connective world of both. You can’t have one without the other and often dreams are tellers of pasts, presents and futures which most definitely guide the direction of my art - as well as the life of the soul who creates it. Also you may glimpse work that reflects my past experiences with the art of tattoos, beauty and symbolism. More often now I’m bringing my intuition into it, with regard to what’s most important - which dream to tell and also what the material needs to say.
For example I’m working with some gorgeous panels that were gifted to me to repurpose and the natural patina is so colorful, it’s just pure joy that I get to morph them into art for my upcoming gallery exhibits. These repurposed panels will be up at the Confluence Gallery in Twisp for my show, Ancient Elementals. I hope people come out to the opening on June 18th.
Do you take on many commissions?
The short answer is no. I would have answered yes just a few months back because at exactly this time last year I was booked with commissions all the way through early this year. I just finished a giant short-eared owl for a naturalist photographer who took the reference photo for it. It was a total of 8’ tall which is officially the *biggest sculpture* that I have created to date.
What kind of weight and balance logistics are necessary to keep in mind with these kinds of works?
When creating the giant sculptured owl the attachment to the backing was super important, mainly just making sure the connecting point of the sculptured bird to the flat textured copper sheet could safely hang on a wall in the client’s dining room (cathedral ceilings) there just had to be a frame and back piece to hold it on that point in the frame. The client has a history of professional woodworking skills so it was great to have his interest and expertise to create an extra special frame.
Weathervanes are an interest of yours and I’m curious if there are unique design considerations you have to take when creating something that’s not just art but also utilitarian? Especially something that will often be seen in silhouette.
For a fully functioning weathervane, the weight balance logistics that are necessary to keep in mind have to do with the location of access point for where the spindle meets the inside bearing, creating the axis where the weathervane rotates. This is in a specific location on the weathervane figure and it’s where this mechanism and design process is a huge factor. Because each weathervane has a back end and a front end of the “arrow”, the back has the greater mass/area and therefore acts as the tail or fin of a weathervane, which is the part that the wind “catches” and moves telling the viewer which direction the wind is coming from. This is always a challenge design-wise when you’re dealing with a piece that is not inherently bigger on its tail end or has a balanced nature as a silhouette. So you have to get creative with the design and figure regarding the balance. For the almost 5’ dragon that I built earlier last year, I had to put a little extra weight into the spear which was the arrowhead part because there was way more mass than needed on the back end or “tail” end so to speak.
Is your aim mostly to sell directly to the open market or have you worked with galleries or other fine art entities as well?
As a full time professional national artist I have my work out in the world in all the ways. Before covid I traveled with my art to many art fairs - I booked eight in that last year. I won an emerging artist award for Best of the Northwest Seattle in 2017 and from there I took it on as a full time gig. But after covid my online sales went through the roof - as I said I was booked with commissions for a full year starting in the Spring of that year. Including a UK sale. But way back I was selling at farmer’s markets and to the local galleries and even before then I started in the weathervane gallery studio where we made hundreds of vanes every week. This year it’s all galleries and I’m switching to my actual website instead of Etsy with their horrendous fees for selling the weathervanes. I am remodeling the website and trying to get much of my new work up and refashion my store. So hopefully by the end of the year it will be a brand new site.
As I mentioned before, Confluence Gallery kicks off my first little studio solo show called Ancient Elementals in June. I’ve also had a few works accepted into Ghost Gallery in downtown Seattle and I’m very excited about that. I really love this gallery. Then I will at some point be showing some work at Lemolo for Wenatchee First Friday Art Walk either late summer or fall - still trying to nail down the exact date on that one. But my solo exhibition at the Whippersnapper Gallery in Seattle this November will culminate in a giant new body of work for my first solo show in a few decades.
Do you spend much time dabbling in other mediums?
I’ve been so busy in the last few years between art fairs and commissions I have had no time to establish new work of my own. But this year it’s all about new mediums or revisiting old mediums, namely painting. So yes I’m super excited about that and also possibly more (non-copper) sculpture.
What is your planning/sketching process when working with metal? Do things tend to morph and develop along the way or do you have a pretty tight blueprint before you even start?
These new sculptural paintings I’m creating are more freeing for me and less technical.
Working in copper and creating weathervanes can oftentimes be a little limiting in design and technique. Not to mention the material is very expensive and if things are not thought out very clearly in the design phase then you could have a useless piece of expensive, non-functioning ‘who knows what’ on your hands. And at this point I can’t afford to do that!
Are you creating all the time or do you have bursts of creativity then some downtime?
I’m creating all the time even when I’m in downtime mode. I feel like most of the time when I’m doing one of my other favorite things, usually outdoors in nature, I feel at home and super creative. I usually have a journal or sketchbook with me and I can jot down a few lines or words.
I’ve also been interested in writing since childhood. I was interested in creative writing and wrote short stories, (little known fact) I will be writing more often as soon as I have a little downtime. So even during downtime when I’m doing absolutely nothing I feel like I’m just a creative creature and it’s always therapeutic. It’s self care all the way. The way you move through life is art.
Do you have a dream project if money and logistics were not an issue?
Absolutely 100% - all of them include collaboration with other artists. In a dream-like world we would be creating meaningful (and sometimes strange, unusual and nonsensical) worlds of art and pretty much nothing else!
But in all seriousness, at some point I will have an actual art center that focuses on art as therapy because I do believe that art can save us all from so much that is sad and wrong in the world.
Are you active on social media? How do people see the bulk of your art?
Yes I am mostly active via newsletter (website) coppermaiden.com.
IG: @jessicadacostaart
I also have a Patreon site:
Etsy: etsy.com/shop/CopperMaidenArt
Also looking towards next year for a few solo shows or group shows and hopefully much more collaborating.
