Diana Coopersmith sits on top of one of the beams at Moscone Center West.
With her ponytail crawling from her helmet, jeans rolled up at the ankle of leather boots and a tool bag on her hip, Diana Coopersmith crossed much of the San Francisco skyline, walking through the metal beams of Moscone Center West at dusk to shine as the federal construction framework rose to the downtown skyline to make its way through the metal beams from the Moscone Center West to generate sparks as the federal construction framework rose toward the downtown skyline to make its way through the metal beams of the Moscone Center West to generate fog sparks as it walks along the main cable of the Golden Gate Bridge.
“You’re 746 feet in the air. When you pass the fog line, you can see forever, the islands and all of East Bay,” Coopersmith said. “It’s so surreal, such a stimulating feeling to be in the most sensitive in the world. You feel so alive, like you can come in and fly.
Some might think that only a daredevil would be a game for such important places, and walking in the air has become accustomed to the welder and metallurgical. When she joined the ironworkers’ union in the 1990s, she was one of only 3 women in this position. A solid salary and benefits were the charm at first, but then she realized that she was sitting aloft at the top of the town hall dome having lunch, lost sight of it and learned that those special moments were a major advantage. For a decade, he realized that some of the city’s landmarks in a way that most of us never do.
Diana Coopersmith walking on the Golden Gate Bridge cable.
Coopersmith grew up in Haight-Ashbury. While read at the San Francisco Institute of Art in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he met artist and welder Mark Pauline of the Survival Research Lab, who taught him how to weld. Man, when the effigy of stick guerrilla art in Baker Beach and SRL’s mechanical and robotic pyrotechnic devices were a new form of sociopolitical satire.
“In the other city, ” said Coopersmith. ” At that point, you may have a commercial art exhibition with fire, explosives and mortars, with our crazy gadgets popping up in a parking lot with two hundred other people looking at them. “
After a few years of being with artists, Coopersmith joined the union. She was already an experienced and qualified welder, but all members had to complete a three-year education program. The adventure to Santa Clara for elegance after work was difficult, but paid. when he ended up more sensitive to his elegance and was given coveted learning on the Golden Gate Bridge.
There, Coopersmith’s task was to check the condition of the bridge wires. With straps around his legs, arms and torso, he climbed to the most sensible in one of the tiny tower elevators, a little enough room for two other people, and then went down a ladder on the main cable. Workers call it the intestinal line. It’s wet, but the trail is made of sand to help them avoid slipping.
“Walking down the bowel line, each and every muscle in its structure is compromised,” Coopersmith said. “Your quadriceps are on fire. It’s so steep, too steep to climb.
Diana Coopersmith walking on the Golden Gate Bridge cable.
But if you can’t get up, how are you? His answer: “We jumped from the gut to the mid-range, where the cable is close to the road platform, and we slide through the suspension cables.
Working on the seismic renewal of the City Council, the story is palpable. “The stairs leading to the dome were built before the invention of welding joints,” he says. “The steps are riveted pieces of stairs. “
Its structure required several people to “work in this small upper space, one to heat the rivet, another to grab it with pliers and put it in the hollow temporarily before it cools down, and a user on the side to put it together. “
Then there is the mane plaster: the tail and mane of the horses are forged fibers. “Before today’s artificial materials, the mane was combined with plaster to hold it in combination and give it strength. In the dome, it was also combined with sand, and had to be salty as it corroded over time. “
Diana Coopersmith in the sensible part of the Coney Island carousel in Yerba Buena Gardens.
At Yerba Buena Gardens, Coopersmith’s love of history, art and education converged. When the Children’s Education Center was established in the 1990s, she was guilty of restoring and reinstalling the centennial carousel in this public art space. His whimsical got herels, large-horned sheep, giraffes, dragons and horses were hand-carved by Coney Island’s master wood carter Charles ID Looff for San Francisco in 1906. Unfortunately, it arrived just in time for an earthquake. It may simply not be installed, so it was sent to Luna Park in Seattle. It bounced in several places earlier even though it all reached its original destination. “The journey came from Long Beach, where it was stored,” Coopersmith said. “It was in bad shape, however, it was a fun project. “
Today, as a commercial artist at his company, DC Metalwork in Petaluma, Coopersmith combines art, architecture and industrial techniques to create metal doors, fences, spiral staircases, lawn benches, planters and furniture and interior decorations for houses and restaurants in the Bay Area. Lately he’s running with San Francisco’s monumental metal sculptor, Richard Serra, to install his 14-foot-tall, 90-foot-long, 100-ton wall sculpture that curves into the land of a personal collector in Atherton.
Diana Coopersmith in welding work.
Learning to weld boys, especially girls, is Coopersmith’s passion. “It’s about building skills, teamwork and trust,” Coopersmith said.
She began training third graders at her daughter Lucy’s school and said the explanation of why she enjoyed training to give young people confidence. He has also taught at The Crucible in Oakland and Marin Made in Sausalito.
In class, the environment is noisy, hot and full of smoke. There are blows, blows and sparks exploding. They all wear gloves and thick leather jackets. “This pushes young people out of their comfort zone and allows them to build anything with their own hands. Some of them are super shy. Even putting on other clothes is not convenient. They’re doing so many things that they have to deal with what’s in front of them. Children fight their fears and do beautiful things with metal. It’s a Zen experience. “
Christina Leimer is an independent publishing house and researcher living in Marin. She is interested in unconventional and tireless stories. If you have one, you can succeed in it through your website.