Nancy Megan Corwin Workshop:

Chasing and Repoussé:

      The techniques of chasing and repoussé are traditionally used to embellish or add detail to the surface of a piece of hollowware or jewelry. Sheet metal, hollow-formed metal, flatware, and sculptures can all be chased (textured and refined from the front with steel tools called chasing tools and using a chasing hammer), and worked from the back with soft-faced steel tools, which is repoussé.

      My approach is to work three-dimensionally in all aspects of my designs. I add layers of texture to pieces that often have no common plane or edge, and make my own chasing tools for specific forms and textures. In most cases, I will work on every part of the individual piece being chased, rather than isolating specific decorative and representational areas. I see texture as individualistic an element as the quality of line is for a drawer, a specific color palette for a painter, or the relationship of form to content for a sculptor. Working to develop form and texture together to create one-of-a-kind art pieces, I experience the process of making the piece as meditative and fulfilling.