Fine Art Tuesday

 

Chris Gariepy is 51 years-old and is currently producing work in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. All images are posted with his permission.

Do you live in the Keweenaw Peninsula and do you have any family ties to the copper industry, Keweenaw or the U.P.?

I live in the Keweenaw Peninsula and my family came here in the mid 1800’s from Canada for the work in the copper mines. I am a sixth-generation Yooper.  My grandfather worked in the mines until the last one closed in 1968.  I live in Lake Linden and am 51 years old, I grew up in a copper workshop called Copperland working with my grandparents and could weld and braze by the time I was 12

Is the copper from native copper or do you purchase sheet?

 

I use copper sheeting bought from various metal producers.  Copper was mined until 1968 here but sent out in ingot form, large solid blocks, mainly to Chicago for further processing.

People connect over food. If one of my readers was to visit the Keweenaw Peninsula, what delicacies do you recommend? Other than your wife, who makes the best pasties in the U.P.? Thimble-berry preserves? Smoked chubs?

Pasties…….. we like a place called Tony’s in Laurium, next to Calumet.

Also we like heading north to Copper Harbor for good food and Art shops.  We supply a nice gift shop called the Laughing Loon there, great place.

Does the Hilltop Restaurant in L'Anse still sell cinnamon rolls? 

Yes they do!  

Tell me about the color treatment of your copper-based art.

We specialize on colors that can be done with hot/cold temps and it tends to be “not that exact” when obtaining the color. We have done colored laquer to tint flowers.

Chris can make any state (although Hawaii might be tough) and provide it in your color and texture treatment of choice

The stars are destined to become Christmas ornaments

Chris's contact information

Hat-tip to Coyote Ken.

 

Added later:

There are several important sites in Wisconsin and Michigan where ancient copper artifacts were found in human archeological sites which range from about 1000 to about 6000 years in age. The oldest site is near Oconto, termed Archaic in age. Copper tools, including projectile heads, fish hooks, awls, needles and knives are abundant, and younger sites have yielded ornamental copper objects. There were also objects from as far away as the Gulf of Mexico and Yellowstone in the burial remains, which indicates that trading of copper objects may have been occurring over much of North America. This is the earliest geoheritage of the Keweenaw, because it is likely that all this copper was of Keweenawan origin.   Link

 

How many things do you own that will still be functional 6000 years from today?