Originally from Ontario, Canada, Lori Schanche retired from the Municipality of Anchorage as a Landscape Architect and Non-Motorized Transportation Coordinator. Lori has been taking silver-smithing classes since 2015 and is a self-taught enamel artist since February 2018.
Lori finds something magical about taking flat, sharp, boring looking pieces of metal, forming them into shapes, then adding enamel and then the best part - Fire! Lori uses a 1400-degree kiln, or open flame from a giant tank, and says it is quite a thrill to work with. And out of all this fun comes a beautiful, colorful object.
Lori tries to create pieces that represent nature and life. It's often kind of beat up, like a broken heart, and sometimes just gorgeous like a flower, often in raging color. Color in the landscape and the landscape in general is a big part of Lori's life and inspiration from nature is often in her pieces.
