Surfaces of Time: Patination and Colouring in Vessel Making

Presented at the Histories of Metallurgy and Metal Material Culture Symposium

Australian National University, Centre for Art History and Art Theory

Ngunnawal-Ngambri/Canberra, Australia

Friday 18 November 2022

Select here for the paper including slides from the presentation

Abstract

This paper explores the metallurgical phenomena of patination and colouring to reflect on notions of time and materiality in vessel making. In metallurgy, patina describes a thin coating that forms on the surface of objects through natural or artificial oxidation processes, often referred to as tarnish or verdigris in the case of green or green-blue colours on copper, brass or bronze, and is an observable indicator of change. A significant feature in the decorative arts, especially in vessel objects from antiquity, patina, as a symptom of change, signifies a sense of becoming in the life of objects.

I contextualise this study of patina as a signifier of becoming by first discussing the aesthetic value of patina through natural oxidation processes in historical examples of vessel objects. I then refer to practice-based methodologies in my studio work involving empirical research of metallurgy and metal colouring to emphasise tensions between predetermined and unpredictable colouring outcomes with natural and artificial oxidising processes. Central to this discussion of my studio work is a recent series of vessels titled Wayfaring (2019-2022) made from copper, brass and sterling silver in which heating and chemical-based methods result in richly textured surfaces of nuanced colour. I conclude the paper by discussing contemporary examples of vessel making by pre-eminent artists in Europe and Japan who employ patination and colouring in their metalwork through casting and finishing methods. In these contemporary examples of metal colouring, the accelerated process of casting creates surfaces that make enduring connections to geological time.