Blacksmithing Flashback

Shawn Lovell is our woman of steel in the February/March 2013 issue of American Craft. Lovell forges graceful art from steel, often employing techniques she learned from other masters of the craft. Like many things, blacksmithing has had cycles of popularity; the 1970s were the end of blacksmithing’s last uptick in popularity. That prompted us to look in the American Craft Council Library’s collection to see what we had from this earlier era.

One of the references that Lovell uses is the smithy’s bible, Alex Bealer’s The Art of Blacksmithing, which was originally published in 1969. She consulted it to learn how to combine glass with blacksmithing. We were happy to confirm that we own this, and other useful books. Craft writer Dona Z. Meilach has an ironwork title from this time, Decorative and Sculptural Ironwork, with basic information on setting up shop and basic forging procedures, followed by step-by-step projects. Artist Alexander Weygers worked in many media and was active in blacksmithing during the '70s, and the library has his The Recycling, Use, & Repair of Tools and The Modern Blacksmith. Also of interest are books the library owns on the history of blacksmithing, referencing when it was used not primarily as an art form, but to make functional tools.

Craft Horizons (the earlier title of American Craft), wrote about blacksmithing in the March 1970 issue. “The Art of the Medieval Blacksmith” offered a technology current to the surge of then-contemporary ironworking, illustrated with beautiful 15th century examples. This was followed by “Contemporary Blacksmith: 1970” in the December 1970 issue, about Rochester, New York’s Shop One show, “The Iron Show.” Seven craftsmen, including Albert Paley (ACC Gold Medalist, 2010), Stanley Lechtzin (ACC College of Fellows, 1992), L. Brent Kington (ACC Gold Medalist, 2000), Ronald Pearson (ACC Gold Medalist, 1990), and others contributed their statements on their involvement with blacksmithing for this article in Craft Horizons. Kington wrote, “I suppose many aspects of this forming process attracted me: the work pace, the heat source, the ring of the hammer blows; all hold a fascination for me…The freedom and immediacy of this method is refreshing and stimulating.”

The Artists-Blacksmiths Association of North America (ABANA) was founded in 1973 with 27 members, and American Craft devoted eight pages in the August 1979 issue to highlighting their members’ work. In 1973, ABANA had 900 members. Today, ABANA has nearly 4,000 members, two publications, conferences, and conventions. The Anvil’s Ring and The Hammer’s Blow are published quarterly, and the ACC Library has issues dating back to 1973. In honor of its 40th anniversary, ABANA will be hosing its first convention in Georgia on March 15-17. Click here for details about the 2013 ABANA Convention.

If you are in the area, please stop by for a look at blacksmithing in the 1970s. Of course, the ACC Library has more recently published titles as well.

A weekly shout out to the printed word, From the Stacks highlights what's new and what's loved in the American Craft Council Library.