Emelene Russell
“I don’t know if we find our passion or if our passion finds us. But there I was just the same, with an acetylene torch in one hand and a mitt full of inspiration in the other. One spark, a little oxygen and my nascent career in metal sculpture had begun.
For years I burned the candle at both ends, welding my heart out on weekends while working full-time during the week as an art director: first, in public television and later in commercial advertising and design.
In the early years of my artistic pursuit, I also developed a technique for creating miniature sculptures in both gold and silver, using the lost wax method. I produced and sold many sculptures in gold, silver and welded steel to clients across the country. I was commissioned by an international manufacturing firm to produce fifty miniature sculptures to recognize its dealers for outstanding contributions to company growth and success.
Then I set my passion for metal sculpting aside for a time to pursue yet another passion with the opening of my own advertising agency in Denver, Colorado—Emelene Russell Advertising & Design. The agency has flourished over the years and affords me now the opportunity to once again create gold sculptures and to pick up my acetylene torch and breathe new life and form into welded steel sculpture. “