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THE STORY OF WEST COAST WEATHER VANES...
Ken & LizAnn Jensen
Proprietors of West Coast Weather Vanes |
During the autumn
of 1988, Ken and I were
on our honeymoon in New England where we had gone to see the fall colors. While we were
admiring the beautiful scenery, we spotted a roadside shop selling copper weather vanes.
We had always admired weather vanes but had been unable to find one in California. They
had a nice selection so we ordered one and arranged to have it shipped back home to us. We
mentioned how much trouble we had finding an interesting weather vane and the fellow
casually mentioned that there was no one in the western half of the country making
handmade copper weather vanes. Ninety miles down the road, we had a brainstorm. Why not
create these fine examples of American folk art ourselves?
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For a year and a half, we saved our money and researched everything
we could find on weather vanes. We became more and more fascinated with the history and
lore that surrounds them. Our first weather vane was a Humpback Whale. In addition to
designs with universal appeal, we wanted to create weather vanes relevant to residents in
the western half of the country, such as quail, elk, sea otters, etc. We experimented with
non-traditional subject matter and materials such as brass, German silver and glass. We
also experimented with multiple sized vanes and unusual locations in which to situate a
weather vane, such as a deck railing, garden or even in a pond!
Today our studio is located in the forested mountains of Central
California and we are one of only a handful of artists anywhere in the world producing
handcrafted copper weather vanes. Our specialty is doing custom design work and portrait
weather vanes. We use the difficult "free form" and "repoussé"
techniques to create these high quality sculptures. No molds are used so each piece is
slightly different from any others that we make. Because each one is finely crafted and
completely unique, they will very probably become collector's items that should increase
in value as they age and acquire their lovely and distinctive greenish patina.
West Coast Weather Vanes' rapidly expanding line currently
includes over 600 different designs ranging from aquatic to animal, bird, human,
mythological and transportation related designs. The diversity of work, new
technical challenges and variety of customers with whom we have worked keeps our
interest and enthusiasm high. We are currently celebrating close to 20 years of weather vane making and love what we
do even more today than we did the day we started.
For additional information or if we may be of further assistance,
please give us a call at 800.762.8736 or 831.425.5505; eMail
at info@westcoastweathervanes.com. It would be a pleasure talking to
you.
Sincerely,
LizAnne Jensen
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