TIM CHURCH: Artist Profile

 

TIM CHURCH PHOTO

TIM CHURCH's combined competencies (machinist, chemist, researcher, scientist, medical doctor) coupled with his artistic eye bring us a lively new genre of artwork — "vibrant toning on copper™." CHURCH used his knack for chemistry and proven abilities 

in research to explore new artistic processes that he developed, eventually leading to the discovery of his aesthetic. The extraordinary range of organic forms, colors, shapes, and contours testifies to his instincts and ability as the founder of a genre in its infancy.

Born in Salinas, California ("the salad bowl of the U.S."), TIM first gained experience working with metal as a teenager in produce packing houses. During his college years pursuing an M.D./Ph.D. medical degree at Tulane, he expanded his skills in metal work as a part-time machinist for a biomechanics research laboratory while simultaneously discovering the New Orleans art scene. Throughout the old city, he saw various copper sculptures and fountains. Over time, he developed a fascination with and love for nature's impact on copper. That impression never left him. 

Years later, he revisited the French Quarter and determined, from that point on, to turn his appreciation for copper into works of art. Thus began his journey, working with Mother Nature and witnessing how science would lead to the creation of fine art—the year 2000 marked his new focus on wall art and a dedication to what he calls "extreme copper experimentation," a decision that ultimately led to the accomplished work you see today.

His artistic adventure used combinations of acids, bases, temperature, and oxygen to achieve a wide range of colors and surface effects in copper. Building an outdoor studio, he incorporated the additional elements of weather and time. In doing so, he discovered summer's oranges, reds, browns, and blacks and winter's piercing blues. After placing pieces in the elements for up to six months, the colors blend and reach maximum intensity. "Never are paints or metal stains used," CHURCH says, "It's just nature and chemistry taking its course."

From his earliest experiments to his current expressions of contemporary wall art, CHURCH's journey has been driven "by the love of creating and of using precision-based fields of thermodynamics, chemistry, and metallurgy to create imprecise patterns of color where the forces of nature decide the final outcome." His combination of skilled metalwork, research, fearlessness in pushing the materials, and his willingness to co-create with nature inspires a wide variety of collectors and scientists -- making CHURCH's steadily growing art career possible.

The results tell the story of his success -- the richest textures, colors, and effects in copper found in the art world today -- a level of work unachieved by others. The art world is noticing that his creative process is hard to emulate, his artwork rare and unique, and for most collectors, something they have never seen before. Ultimately, it is about the beauty, the flow of form and color that light up a room. And somehow, TIM CHURCH has accomplished that objective perfectly. 

  • Artist's Statement

    "I've tried everything I can conceive of - every chemical process, every environment, every approach to working with copper. I continue to push the materials to their limits. If someone wants to try to replicate my work - good freakin' luck. I'm a scientist who has put an enormous amount of effort, chemistry, and research into this artistic process.

    I grew up without a fear of metal, tools, or chemicals - and all have played a larger part in my progression as an artist and my work with copper. They have given me an understanding of chemistry as the driver - the foundation - of copper art.

    Temperature plays a pivotal role in the final outcome, as chemical combinations that result in bright orange in the summer heat produce a brilliant blue in the dry winter cold. Understanding what chemical combinations work best in each set of weather conditions has been a lengthy educational process."
See Artwork

Magazine Features

2024
TREND MAGAZINE - 2024 FLIPBOOK - Two Page, Artist Profile
2023
TREND MAGAZINE - 2023 FLIPBOOK - Show Opening

Videos

ART in the RAW - episode 8 | Creativity, Curiosity, and Chemistry: A Conversation with TIM CHURCH

Collectors Notes

COLOR AND MATERIALS MASTERY
While copper work is unpredictable on some levels, given weather patterns, water, seasons, acids, and bases, TIM CHURCH reaches a color depth and variety that no one in the art world has been able to achieve, combining breaking research in different sciences to achieve a wide range of effects and colors.

COMMERCIAL GRADE AND USER-FRIENDLY EPOXY
TIM CHURCH has studied and worked with the changing science around epoxy use. He only makes use of user-friendly, lo- and no-toxin epoxy that has extremely low air-leeching, provides UV protections and presents surfaces that promise to be long-lasting indoors and outdoors.

INVESTMENT & COMMISSIONS
TIM CHURCH's artwork may be personally commissioned through Wiford Gallery. The result is a copper work that combines CHURCH's distinct 'look' with a Collector's vision.

TIM CHURCH - vibrant toning on copper™

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