Art Chowder January | February, Issue 19 | Page 15

S
omething new showing up more and more
in Sonja’s work is her use of color in the final
patina. Her recent ocean-themed pieces are
great examples. After a bronze is poured, it’s a
light golden color. Sulphurated potash or liver
of potash is the chemical that produces the
basic bronze color we’re familiar with. To add
coloring, the foundry’s patina artist heats the
metal to a specific temperature and then, working
closely with the sculptor, will apply additional
chemicals, such as ammonium chloride or ferric
nitrate to produce golds and reds.
The white spots on Sonja’s
whale sculpture are made using
bismuth nitrate, which, when just
touched to the warm metal with
a paint brush produces a milky
white cloud that spreads until
it creates the circle. The patina
process can take anywhere from
a half-hour to days, depending
on the size of the piece and the
amount of color being applied.
Sonja wasn’t always a sculptor.
Her path, like so many of
ours, took its twists and turns
— beginning with art school
in Johannesburg while still a
teenager, then an opportunity
in the nine-to-five world of
commercial art on the East Coast
of South Africa, to a lengthy
stint in engineering drafting.
The drafting brought her to the
United States — Anchorage,
Bellingham, and finally, Colville
— with her engineer/artisan
husband, Blair. It was here, in
this settled, rural environment
that Sonja reconnected with
her original love of fashioning
beautiful objects from clay.
January | February 2019
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