Tag: blacksmithing

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A Celebration of Blacksmithing: Fire on the Mountain 2024

Free hands-on activities for people of all ages were very popular

What a wonderful event! Last weekend, we enjoyed demos by amazing blacksmiths, competitive forge-offs, hands-on activities, inspiring vendors, and a beautiful exhibition, all as a part of the annual Fire on the Mountain blacksmithing festival.

A forged bracelet 

Penland is proud to be a part of this event, produced in collaboration with Spruce Pine Main Street, Toe River Arts, Arthur Morgan School, and the many smiths and volunteers who make this wonderfully niche event such a rare and celebrated gathering of blacksmiths and enthusiasts.

It’s a lot of work and a lot of fun and we could not have asked for a better day or more excellent folks to spend it with.

Seth Gould had us enthralled at the close-up tent

We enjoyed the following demonstrations:

2024 FEATURED ARTIST BLACKSMITH
Pete Braspenninx
Demo: Fire-welding sculpture

Claire Ashby
Demo: small-scale sand casting in bronze and shibuichi for jewelry and hardware applications

Cole Aurichio
Demo: Sculptural forging and fire welding anatomical forms and figures.

Seth Gould
Demo: Nunome zogan, a decorative overlay technique used to add ornamentation to a metal object. 

Anna Koplik (who just finished teaching an 8-week Penland concentration)
Demo: forging on a small scale.

Will Manning
Demo:Processing and laminating rusted pitted old metal to create beautiful new materials.

Volunteers: So many!

Thank you to everyone who made this event possible and wonderful. Next year’s Fire on the Mountain Festival will take place on April 25th and 26th. See you then!

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Announcing the Elizabeth Brim Scholarship Fund


An outpouring of support for 2023 Outstanding Artist Educator Elizabeth Brim has helped establish the Elizabeth Brim Scholarship! We invite you to help endow a scholarship in honor of Elizabeth Brim’s pioneering and sustained contributions to the blacksmithing community! Any amount is greatly appreciated.

“Few people have been as committed and have contributed as much to Penland as Elizabeth Brim. Not only is Elizabeth a rockstar in the blacksmithing world, she is a great friend and inspiration to so many who enjoy the Penland experience. If Elizabeth has touched your life, directly or indirectly, we invite you to be a part of her legacy by donating to the Elizabeth Brim Scholarship. We are thrilled to honor Elizabeth Brim’s legacy by creating this opportunity for future generations. ”

-Susan Owen, friend, mentee, peer

BE A PART OF ELIZABETH’S LEGACY

Deep Penland Connections

Elizabeth was Penland’s iron studio coordinator from 1995–2000 and then settled permanently into a house and studio just a mile from the school. Over three decades, she has taught many workshops at Penland and other craft schools including Peters Valley in New Jersey and Haystack in Maine. She has demonstrated at numerous blacksmithing conferences, organized two symposia at Penland, and been a role model and inspiration for countless aspiring blacksmiths. She continues to be an integral part of the Penland community.

Iconic, Innovative Work

Elizabeth Brim is known for her life-sized, steel replicas of traditionally feminine objects such as hats, dresses, pillows, and flowers; for her expressive and fluid use of the material; and for her facility at inflating steel forms with compressed air.

Elizabeth Brim, Excess, 2008. Steel. Metal Museum Permanent Collection 2009.8.1. Gift of John & Robyn Horn.

Watch Elizabeth inflate a steel pillow.

Honoring Elizabeth

Over the summer, Penland honored Elizabeth as Outstanding Artist Educator at the 38th Annual Penland Benefit Auction. Twenty blacksmiths who are near and dear to Elizabeth created special works of art, inspired by her for the occasion. Friends and colleagues shared how Elizabeth has touched their lives. Many of these artists have contributed to the Elizabeth Brim Scholarship fund, bringing us closer to our goal of endowing a scholarship that will provide opportunities for blacksmiths for generations to come.

Elizabeth has given so much to Penland and to the blacksmithing community. We invite you to be a part of her legacy by donating to the Elizabeth Brim Scholarship fund. Donate today!

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Forging Support

NOTE: If you are seeing this by e-mail, you may be getting it for the second time. We had a website glitch yesterday and the original post was lost, so we had to post it again and these things get sent out automatically.

Here’s one more #PenlandEverywhere entry from session 2 instructor Stephen Yusko. Stephen wrote to us to present a special project in support of the work of his co-instructor, Daniel Souto. The two met at Penland over twenty years ago—an incredible example of the deep connections forged in our studios! Stephen and Daniel are hoping to work together again in the Penland iron studio in the near future. We are hoping for that, too.

Stephen Yusko in the Penland iron studio
Stephen Yusko (blue shirt) and Daniel Souto (orange shirt) with students in the Penland iron studio in 2013.

Daniel Souto and I were scheduled to co-teach Session 2 in the Penland iron studio in June, but, of course, our workshop was cancelled along with all the others. So, instead of working with my friend, I used that time to do something to raise funds to support his amazing project, LaCaravanaEscuela. I made four pairs of Volcano Candleholders and two pairs of Volcano Oil Lamps, which I am selling to support the project. They are $375 per pair, with 100% of the funds going toward the purchase of essential tools—mainly anvils and vises, which are nearly impossible to find in Venezuela.The tools will be used in Souto Studio to train the instructors who go into the mountain communities to teach blacksmithing to farmers so they can make their own farm implements and horseshoes, which are in short supply. LaCaravanaEscuela also donates tools to these communities so they can continue their journey of making and learning.

volcano candleholders and oil lamps by stephen yusko
Volcano Candleholders and Volcano Oil Lamps by Stephen Yusko

For information about LaCaravanaEscuela, see Daniel’s story on this blog, or watch this three-minute video. If you want to see a little more about me, you can view this video from the series, Artists in Place, by Luke Frazier. Daniel is in the video as well.

If you’d like to support LaCaravanaEscuela through a purchase of candleholders or lamps, contact me at stephenyusko@gmail.com.