Salida's versatile Toni Tischer

Article by Columbine Quillen

Local artists - June 2004 - Colorado Central Magazine - No. 124 - Page 40

Copyright © 2004 by Columbine Quillen and Central Colorado Publishing Co. All rights reserved.

TONI TISCHER is a spirited, thoughtful, and enthusiastic artist who is talented in many mediums. Born in Denver, she left Colorado as a youngster because her family moved to Wichita, Kansas. There, Toni first developed an interest in art as an oil painter -- at the age of eight.

Toni continued painting and dabbled in sculpture, but when she went to Fort Hays State College she studied advertising and editorial art rather than fine arts. After two years there, she transferred to Kansas University to finish her degree.

Toni wasn't sure whether she really wanted to be a graphic designer, but she knew she didn't want to live in the city. The first time she visited Salida was in 1975, as a college student backpacking in the area. Then, in the winter of 1980, she took a ski lesson at the Monarch Ski Area, and was impressed with both the lesson and her ski instructor, Red Tischer.

Soon they were married, and before long they were expecting their first child. Within five years, Toni and Red had three children, which kept Toni busy. But she found time for a part-time job at Denoyer's Nursery and to do some commissioned art pieces, many of them in pen and ink.

In the 1980s, Salida wasn't an art town full of galleries. "When you were an artist in Salida, you would pretty much do anything. I did a T-shirt for Monarch and I would draw people's pets for them and other things like that."

Probably the most recognizable commission Tischer has done is a pen- and-ink stipple drawing of the Salida Steamplant. But the project she is clearly most proud of was a "Three Dimensional Project" that consumed most of her time: her three children Josh, April, and Jon.

In the early 90's, Toni started working for Jerry Scavezze, who is a nationally acclaimed jeweler known for his anticlastic formation pieces.

Toni and Jerry are very close, much like siblings. As they talk about their work, they interrupt one another, sharing details, stories, and jokes. Toni learned almost everything she knows about making gold jewelry from Scavezze, but as they reveal some of the secrets of their trade, there is no doubt that Toni is an invaluable asset to Scavezze's studio.

From the beginning, Toni really liked the idea of learning to make jewelry. "When you make jewelry and something goes wrong, you can fix it. There are 15,000 ways you can ruin a pot, but a piece of jewelry you can pretty much always save. With pottery, there can be one little mix-up in the kiln and you'll see a month's worth of work gone."

It was from Jerry that Toni really began to learn about anticlastic formation. Anticlastic raising is a technique of metalwork, usually gold in this case, whereby sheet metal is formed directly with a hammer on a sinusoidal stake. Sinusoidal means with a mathematical sine curve, but it looks snakelike (or like a typographical ~ tilde).

To make an anticlastic formation, a flat sheet of metal is shaped by compressing its edges and stretching the center so that the surface develops two curves at right angles to each other. The result is two sides that curl up, and two that curl down, like the shape of a saddle (which curves up from the seat toward the horn in front and the cantle in back, but down on both sides).

Anticlastic raising can create a myriad of delicate, sinuous shapes: loops, hoops, spirals, twists, and blossoms. But anticlastic formation does not include bowl-shaped objects created by hammering the metal in the same direction. That is called synclastic formation.

When Toni makes jewelry using anticlastic techniques, she starts with a piece of gold or silver sheet metal. Then, she softens it with a torch. Gold tends to stay softer for longer and thus it's easier to work with.

"There's a reason gold is the world's most precious metal. It is definitely easier to work with, it doesn't move, it's more malleable, and it's easier to polish."

But Toni enjoys working with silver, too. "I really like the white and the yellow together," she says.

After she softens the metal, she hammers it into the form she wants. When you see Tischer's small, perfectly smooth creations, it's hard to believe that they were hammered into shape, but they were.

Other than their distinctive look, anticlastic formations are distinguished for being very lightweight and structurally strong in comparison to the amount of material used.

"My emphasis is on the negative shapes created by the lines I sculpt," Toni said.

SOME OF HER PIECES have a helical shape to them, much like a wind chime that spirals in the wind. Most pieces curve in a sensuous manner, then end in a very distinct point, so that delicate curves contrast with needlelike ends.

The shapes and colors are beautiful -- and intriguing. The swirling forms look like they were created by water flowing down a curvy canal, then frozen forever, not like they were hammered out of a piece of sheet metal.

Light dances off of Tischer's pieces and really brings them to life. In some pieces, a gemstone or pearl sits amongst the contours, creating an attractive focal point.

But Tischer also makes jewelry that doesn't feature those curvy anticlastic forms. One of my favorites, is an egg-shaped pendant filled with straight lines, three dots and an arc. Unlike her other pieces, this one communicates order and geometry. Tischer's anticlastic pieces inspire the imagination, because their forms and outlines seem to transform with changes in light and movement. But this bold, geometric piece looks the same no matter what light source is behind it, or how much the wearer moves; it's strong, interesting, and exudes in-your-face confidence.

Toni does original pieces and then numbered copies. The copies are handcrafted just like the original; she does not use any molds to make duplicate pieces. The only difference is that Tischer has to develop her idea from her sketches when she makes the first one, whereas the next time she knows how to create it. "Hopefully I took good notes, or it can take a really long time to make the next piece."

In 2002, Toni opened her own studio, Tischer Studios in Salida, although she still does a lot of work in the studio that she shares with Jerry. "I will start working on something and then I remember that I left something important at the other studio."

Right now, Toni is redesigning Jerry's showcases so that they are easier to ship, but she has a lot of ideas for new projects. Actually, she is so excited about them, that when I asked her what her plans were, her eyes lit up and she did a little hop out of her seat.

Toni wants to make a new series that involves carved amber with an anticlastic method in an art-deco motif. "To carve amber you have to unlearn everything you've ever learned about stone. You cannot get it hot because it is sap and it will melt. You can't use any high-speed buffs on it, you have to be very gentle."

She is also looking forward to fabricating three-dimensional pressed paper pictures of Chaffee County bridges to make a wall-hanging. She's found that her jewelry tools work great for carving the molds in which she presses the paper. "I've done a lot of photography, and I really love taking pictures, so I'm really excited about this. But I don't know when I'm going to do it."

For now, she will just enjoy her two grandchildren and finish the showcases.

You can find Toni's art at Gallery 150 at 150 W First Street in downtown Salida, or you can contact her directly at tisc@amigo.net. Her pieces start at $48 and go up to $2,000.

Columbine Quillen admires anyone with a greater talent than putting beads together, a craft she enjoys, nonetheless. You can see her work at FIBArk this year in one of the twelve art booths.