Upcoming show in June!

Join Pike Lake Forge along with twenty other amazing artists at this years annual Waterfront Art Sale, held at the Baggage Building Arts Centre, Prince Arthur's Landing, Thunder Bay ON. We'll not only have our ironwork for sale, we'll be doing a live demo outside.
 Sat. June 20, 10 - 5pm.

They have a Facebook Page here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Waterfront-Art-Sale-Thunder-Bay-2015/1703178116575607?fref=ts

 

Clay Smithing!

We had a great time for the past couple if weeks working with Mrs. Polowskis class at St. Bernard school. These projects will be displayed at CAHEPs Artist in the Fifth Arts Fiesta! Great work class! It was exciting to see the forms come to life, and to see so many young spirits now interested in Blacksmithing!

http://cahep.ca

Clay Smithing:

Carol Kajorinne and Kristen "Kriev" Krievin (Pike Lake Forge) led Sarah Polowski's St. Bernard class in the creation of air-dry-clay sculptures. Clay is often employed by blacksmiths to problem solve and explore ideas before working the hot steel. Using wooden hammers, learners applied the basics of blacksmithing to forming clay. Topics include: forging a taper, drawing out, spreading, scrolling and applying those skills to forge a leaf along with their own intuitive shapes.

Large businesses try to save old crafts from loosing their foothold, showing how they can offer long term careers both innovative and creative.

I just stumbled upon the article "The artisans in danger of disappearing" (written by Katie Hope) on the Metal Arts Guild of Canada's Facebook page. I was intrigued instantly, as when looking towards which funding may be available for us as a business, I'm always questioning what is innovation today, especially when working within an ancient craft. Check it out: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31791937  It's really great; here's a couple of quotes:

"ECCIA president Michael Ward says 80% of people look at a product's label first to see where it has been made...

"If we look at what's driving the luxury market; it's about craftmanship, originality and tradition. It's all about adding value. How many stitches in a Fendi bag, how long does it take to train a weaver, for example, are all hugely important in terms of the product proposition..."

"Our challenge is to show how far these trades are linked to innovation and creativity. They are not just hollow reproductions of old forms. They benefit from the knowledge of the past, but are completely in tune with the present.""

Excited for this new adventure!

What do these look like?

You guessed it: Wooden hammers!

Kriev's been busy creating some small mallets for an upcoming class we'll be teaching.

Carol's worked with Mrs. Polowski though CAHEP's Artists in the 5th program for the past three years, and is excited to be bringing the art of blacksmithing into the classroom. Using wooden mallets, rolling pins and various tools learners are going to explore how metal moves through manipulating clay. 

This marks the beginning of a new "Clay Smithing" educational adventure for Pike Lake Forge!

You can find out more about CAHEP's art programming and can even read up on Carol's love of teaching through their blog:

http://cahep.ca

Stay tuned to see what we create with the young artists. You'll even find the artworks on display at this years Folklore Festival.