Today I had the pleasure of teaching some soldering techniques to the incredible mixed media artist Elena Mary Siff. This California artist's resume spans some 30+ years and has yielded some impressive works. As an educator and artist in film, bookmaking, Siff's career has also included advocating for individuals with special needs.
With so much experience under her belt, I have to admit it that it is always a somewhat humbling experience to teach someone with so much more wisdom than I. Elena is an artist that likes to break the rules and push the boundaries. This couldn't be more obvious in her soldering technique.
As someone who has been trained in all the "proper" methods of torch work, I was challenged by Elena's free spirit when it comes to creating art. She is a self proclaimed "breaker of rules" and doesn't like to be told what to do. I can relate to this kind of personality from personal first hand experience.
Soldering can be very meticulous and exact, two words that I don't think are part of Siff's vocabulary. I learned that teaching her how to solder is going to mean breaking most of the rules. Other than being meticulous about every surface being clean, I think everything else about soldering is going to be challenged by her very strong aesthetic.
This is good for me -- a retraining of sorts. It is making me challenge myself and look at the process of creating in different shades of gray. There is no more black and white...
there is Elena's way.
For more information on Elena Mary Siff and her work
click here
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Now that Facebook has created fan pages for businesses and visual artists, H. Palleiko Designs is finally migrating the group page over to our new fan page.
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