Charles McBride-White

Nature is my stimulus and I strive to create a feeling of motion and emotion. My work is all hand fabricated in copper, bronze, steel, stainless steel, and brass. Each piece of a sculpture must be individually hand cut from metal sheet and rod then shaped and formed using hammers and presses. The pieces are then welded, brazed, or soldered, sometimes to an internal armature. The welds must then be ground down until smooth and the fire scale from welding cleaned with acid. Finally the sculpture is finished using a variety of techniques, including chemical patinas, metal dyes, paints, polishing to a high shine, or heating the metal with a torch then scrubbing into it with a brass brush until golden hued.

Though my creative energies take many forms, since 1980 one of my primary focuses has been water sculptures. Rather than designing a sculpture into which water is incorporated, I begin with the water flow pattern and create the sculpture necessary to achieve it. The key element to a successful water sculpture is the sound, and creating a pleasant sound requires controlling the water’s flow through and across the metal. I basically design with water.

I like the linear quality I get from constructing in metal, as if I am creating three-dimensional drawings.