Signs of the Times - April 2013 - (Page 8)
ST UPDATE
News for a broader perspective
Another Talented Hepburn
Living or working in the shadow of
a famous relative can impede establishing name recognition for yourself.
However, the neon-sculpting talents
of Mundy Hepburn, nephew of the
late actress Katharine Hepburn, prove
his family’s creative gifts don’t end
with legendary performances in The
African Queen or On Golden Pond.
“When I was little, she was just
Aunt Katy,” he said. “It was only when
I got older that I realized she was a
movie goddess. Creativity ran in my
family; my father was a playwright,
and my mother designed fabric art.”
When Hepburn turned 14, his
father bought him an arc welder.
After some fits and starts learning
to use it, he visited Paul Geyer, a
glass artist whose work he’d admired
at a fair as a youngster. Geyer sent
him to Joey Buccelli, an old friend
and tubebender. He learned how to
bend neon tubing, and made his first
sign for a neighboring shoe store. His
interest in luminous-tube art intensified when he saw a plasma globe
in a Sharper Image catalog. When
he needed a high-voltage power
supply, a friendly TV repairman sent
him the innards of a broken set.
“Using the TV carcass, I blew a
small bubble with my torch and put
a single electrode in it. I hooked
the wire from the TV to the bubble
and welded it onto the neon-vacuum
manifold, pumped it down and told
my friend to touch it. I opened the
argon valve all the way … and there
it was, a tiny plasma arc, wiggling
away. I was hooked.”
Today, Hepburn builds his own
equipment, and formulates custom
glass from sand and other fluxes.
He begins his process by blowing
basic glass shapes, and then manipulates the glass to create a 15mm
tube in which he places the electrodes. Then, he anneals the glass
8 SIGNS OF THE TIMES / APRIL 2013 / www.signweb.com
in a large oven and assembles the
electrode. After dusting on phosphor
coatings, he puts the lamp into the
giant oven and welds the tubulation
into the manifold. Using old, rotaryvane pumps, he pumps noble
gases into it. With a small torch,
he tips off the tubulation. He uses
a customer-made, inverter power
supply, which, with the gas mixture,
creates the plasma effect.
As his work has evolved and word
has spread, he’s earned commissions
for numerous museums, private
homes and corporate environments.
Two years ago, an architect (who’d
seen Hepburn’s work two decades
before as a Yale student) commissioned him to create a luminoustube sculpture for a NYC building’s
rooftop. It was a compelling combination of beauty and durability;
Hepburn said Hurricane Sandy
wrested only a single electrode
from it.
“I’m very fortunate that I grew
up in an environment where art
was a way of life,” he said. “I may
not have the wealth or fame my
aunt accumulated, but I feel the
same deep satisfaction as an artist
when a client says, ‘Oh, I love it.’”
http://www.signweb.com
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signs of the Times - April 2013
Signs of the Times - April 2013
Contents
ST Update
Cut Your Ink Costs
Technology Update
Vinyl Apps
Strictly Electric
LED Update
Software Update
Technology Review
Technology Review
Sign Museum News
New Products
The 2013 International Sign Contest
Leasing Equipment
The ISA Sign Expo 2013 Preview
Industry News
Advertising Index
Editorially Speaking
Signs of the Times - April 2013
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