Lisa Wisdom trained as a traditional Blacksmith at Hereford School of Blacksmithing and as a jeweller at Birmingham School of Jewellery. She works from a beautiful two hundred year old smithy on a disused granite quarry near Falmouth.
Combining skills from both jewellery and blacksmithing traditions she forges, forms and layers sheet metal into a unique form of collage wall art and conjures ancient seeming artifacts – tools and adornment out of fragments of found metal from past industry.
The metal landscapes incorporate flattened rusty corrugated roofing sheet collected from old derelict buildings. Led by what she can ‘see’ in the metal, she works into the surface using charcoals to pull out buildings, skies, and walls. Lisa also incorporates copper from old copper boilers to depict the sea.
The Artifacts are made from recycled and scrap metal and explore common forms from the bronze and iron-ages such as the fibula brooch and torques. All these items are made from bronze, steel/iron and copper. They may incorporate found rusty washers or old plumbing pipe or electrical wiring.
Lisa is making a conscious choice in her use of mainly found materials in her practice in line with her desire to tread lightly on this planet – she lives in one end of the smithy building surrounded by a permaculture garden which is itself nestled into a 17 acre nature reserve that is home to a community of artists.
She uses locally sourced sustainable charcoal as fuel for her forge which is powered by a hand-crank fan.
find her on Facebook and Instagram @lisawisdomartist
Website: www.lisawisdomartist.com
