Motivated by experimentation with angles and negative space, Melody Tudisco creates both edgy, bold jewelry from oxidized silver and gold and wall pieces from manipulated and painted copper. “My world is made up of textures and layers,” she states. “As a child in the country, I spent hours looking for and picking up rusty nails on our sandy hilly driveway after a rainstorm. My dad would pay me a penny a nail. Two cents if it were a larger nail, or a piece of wire. I can still see the rusty textured layers; the burnt orange, sienna, and sometimes a hint of blue-green patina. This corroded metal intrigued me and still does.I am energized by the reaction and the texture that is created on metal when I torture it with heat, pounding, or paint. Metal doesn’t move easily and I love the coaxing of it to give it a tactile life. I become impelled to produce structure and density where there once was smoothness. Of all my tools, my favorites are an old railroad rail and a chewed up copper mallet. When I use these tools they create my personal marks and textures that are individual only to my work."
Left: Joanna, wearing Melody's oxidized silver Multi Chain necklace, with the artist's copper and acrylic wall piece. See more on Melody's work here.
