Featured Artist Lisa Tornello

Artist Lisa Tornello transforms upcycled metal into delightfully colorful handmade jewelry and collage art. Visit her website to see more of her work.

 

 

I am a jewelry artist who, prior to the pandemic, worked primarily in Argentium sterling silver and semi-precious gemstones. Once Covid hit and craft shows shut down, I was left with a lot of inventory, so it made no sense for me to make more silver jewelry. I was going a little stir-crazy not having a creative outlet. Then a good friend gave me a Burt’s Bees gift set for Christmas.

 

 

As I was taking the products out of the tin, I was getting ready to throw the container into my recycle bin. I thought, “What a shame!” because it was beautiful—a stunning ocher with an overall geometric design. Then I thought, “Heck, I work with metal so there ought to be something I can make with this instead of just throwing it out!”

 

 

For the next year, while the rest of the world was spiraling out of control from Covid, I was holed up in my basement. I immersed myself in experimenting with a brand new medium.

 

 

To be clear, I do not paint the tin designs. I use post-consumer decorative tin containers that I have bought in thrift stores or received as gifts. Think tea tins, cookie/candy tins, lunch boxes, trays, even trashcans. I then deconstruct them, hand-cut, file, sand, drill, dome and rivet them into fun and funky, featherweight, one-of-a-kind jewelry.

 

 

It started with some simple, single piece earrings. I soon became obsessed with all the colors and patterns. I began mixing and matching different tins together, until suddenly I was making doubles, triples and even quadruple pieced earrings.

 

 

Always aiming to challenge myself, I graduated to pins. Once I discovered how to use the rivet gun I inherited from my father, I went even larger and 3-dimensional with necklaces.

 

 

I can never say no to a gifted tin from friends, so I have ended up with a lot of tins that don’t really lend themselves to jewelry. I thought of creating some artwork with them and that’s how my new recycled tin bird collages came to be. Everything but the screws and nails are recycled material. Even the wood substrates they are built on are from old bureau drawers I found on the street.

 

 

I use a lot of the same traditional metalsmithing techniques that I use making my silver jewelry. But instead of working with a torch, the tin creations are made using all cold-connections. Tin isn’t malleable like silver. It is a lot less forgiving, but I am really enjoying working with the endless colors and patterns and being able to work big without worrying that the piece will be too heavy.

 

 

Most of all, I love the idea of being a more sustainable artist by repurposing material that already had a life as one thing and creating something new out of it, thereby giving it a second life. It’s true what they say—one person’s trash is another’s treasure!

 

Lisa Tornello invites you to follow on Instagram. 

 

 

Want to stay current on cutting edge business articles from Artsy Shark, plus artist features, and an invitation to the next Call for Artists? Click below to sign up for our twice-monthly email. You’ll get all this plus opportunities and special offers that you can’t get anywhere else!