About Us Elaine and Bill Snell have been married for 20 years and work as a team to create their metal artwork in Greenville S.C. Elaine studied Fine Arts at the College of Charleston in South Carolina and enjoyed teaching art to middle and high school students for over 20 years. She has taught and worked in a variety of media including ceramics, printmaking, drawing and painting. Bill studied Architecture and Building Sciences at Auburn and Clemson, and has worked in various capacities as a carpenter, designer, engineer, and metal fabricator since the early 1980’s. They produce their work from within Elliott Metal Works, a family owned and run metal working business started by Elaine’s grandfather and now run by Bill and Elaine. As is the case with many small businesses in America these days, Elliott Metal recently began facing difficult times created by imports, plant closings, and the loss of traditional customers. Confronted with the need to find a new business niche, Bill and Elaine have been forced to take stock of their existing skills and physical resources. The resulting combination of business needs and the desire to exercise their creativity led them to begin experimenting with different ways of adapting traditional silhouette and paper-cut imagery into metal. The possibilities began to emerge immediately and the results of their explorations have, so far, been extremely satisfying both in terms of their business and creative growth. Most of Elaine and Bill’s work to date has been done using natural mild steel and a plasma cutter. A piece begins with an idea and sketches that explore form, composition, and detail. As the idea is refined, the sketches are combined into a single line drawing that ultimately becomes the pattern for the final piece. The intricate detail that characterizes their work must be carefully planned in advance to survive the intense heat of the cutting process. Too fine and the detail simply burns away, too coarse and the delicacy is lost. It is maintaining this balance between the material and the torch that shapes the final piece. Each designs fiery origins are left very much in evidence, giving each piece a unique appearance. Each piece is hand finished and coated with an acrylic clear coat. Elaine and Bill first took their work to market in early 2003, and the on-going creation and evolution of this line has been and continues to be fun, challenging, and interesting. Elliott Metal Works metal art is now sold in catalogs and in galleries across the United States.