Jeanie Stephensen

Artist Statement

NOTHING COMPARES TO THE LOOK AND FEEL OF BRONZE

I learned the “cire perdue”, or “Lost Wax”, method of producing bronze sculptures while I was in college, but it wasn’t until I spent almost twenty years hitchhiking around the world, driving taxis, teaching high school science and becoming a wife and mother that I resumed sculpturing. My life experiences are all a part of my work, and I try to instill a little of my own joy in the diversity of life into each piece.

To produce a bronze requires not only the creative process of sculpture but also a lengthy labor of transmuting that form from clay into the durability and beauty of bronze.

Although most sculptors send their clay models to a foundry to be cast, I turn each piece into bronze in my own foundry called backyard, using the ancient “lost wax” technique. From clay to wax to bronze, no hands but my own are involved in the creative process.

To produce a bronze requires not only the creative process of sculpture but also a lengthy labor of transmuting that form from clay into the durability and beauty of bronze.

Although most sculptors send their clay models to a foundry to be cast, I turn each piece into bronze in my Flogiston Foundry in my own backyard in Decherd, TN, using the ancient “lost wax” technique. From clay to wax to bronze, no hands but my own are involved in the creative process.

I make each piece individually by hand from the original sculpture, through the pouring of the molten metal to the final finishing and patina. Each piece is signed and ready to hold or display.