Got your notepad ready? Good. Here's what's happening over the next two weeks for Ferrous - an international celebration of hammers, molten metal and all things blacksmithery. Check it out.
And for more on HCA's artist blacksithing courses, click here.
(Banner image by Martha Rose Photography)
#1 Have A Go forging ( + save the bees at the same time)
What: Exactly what it says on the tin. You get swing a hammer under the watchful eye of a pro, who will help you turn a red-hot bit of metal in to a gorgeous, tendrilesque seed marker – so you go home and plant something and keep the bees alive.
The live forging’s going on all weekend, but you do have to pay (£12) and you do have to book as it was wildly popular last year, especially among Thor fans.
When: April 5- 7
Where: High Town
#2 Masters at work
What: This is a cool, mixed-media show which features an incredible, intricate sculptural ironwork by Seth Efriken blacksmith Paul Mikula in collaboration with HCA students and documentary photos from Shire-favourite Martha Rose who caught the project on camera.
Apparently Paul lives entirely off-grid on the veldt, powering a hotel, three houses and forge using solar because the power grid over there was collapsing. I haven’t seen the piece in person yet, but I’m fascinated to know what a guy with that level of drive does for fun.
When: April 5 – 14, 11am – 4pm
Where: Gomond St, Maylord Shopping Centre
#2 Connections
What: In the same space there’s a show by HCA artist blacksmiths who look at look ‘connections’ – literally very important in the world of metalwork, and figuratively very important in the SU bar.
When: April 5 – 14, 11am – 4pm
Where: Gomond St, Maylord Shopping Centre
#3 Measured Making – the 150mm Challenge
What: Last Autumn Hereford blacksmith Ambrose Burne set the world (the internet) a challenge. Take a 150mm block of metal and make the most personal, most impressive thing you can out of it. The world responded. The blacksmith equivalent of the ice-bucket challenge swept across Instagram and four continents, and here you can take a look at many of the jaw-dropping, gravity-defying results.
When: April 5 – 14, 11am – 4pm
Where: Gomond St, Maylord Shopping Centre
#4 Ambrose Burne
What: Talking of Mr Burne – he’s also got a solo show on at Ferrous. His style is all about nature and movement within nature. That makes for some beautiful, elegant aesthetics for even the most casual of observers – but for you diehard metal-heads, the lecturer is also a known historian of the craft and his work will often include some classics references to go with his contemporary steez.
When: April 5 – 14, 11am – 4pm
Where: Gomond St, Maylord Shopping Centre
#5 National Heritage Ironwork Group
What: Iron is everywhere. Bridges, artistic railings, Marvel films. The NHIG are in charge of spreading the gospel of ironwork to the world – and this exhibition takes you through the history of the craft, from refined civic bandstands to Britain’s more prosaic history of impressive metal infrastructure.
Get in quick on this – it’s only here for the first weekend of Ferrous.
When: April 5, 6, 7, 11am – 4pm
Where: Gomond St, Maylord Shopping Centre
#6 Metal + Metal
What: The accompanying picture in the program features a renowned Swedish artist seemingly about to headbutt a large pizza cutter. So naturally this will be the first thing we’re going to.
Metal + Metal is showcasing the work of six professors from the acclaimed Steneby School of Crafts in Gothenburg: Heiner Zimmerman, Tobias Birgersson, Soren Hellquist, Otto Samuelsson, Karl Hallberg Lina Soderberg.
Incidentally Karl Hallberg will also be giving a talk on Craft in Public Space at the Courtyard on Friday.
When: April 5 – 14, 11am – 4pm
Where: Gomond St, Maylord Shopping Centre
#7 Celebrating the natural world
What: This is lovely. HCA students have spent months going out to local primary schools to help them use punches to create animal designs in metal. Yep, they gave kids hammers. And the results are varied and beautiful.
When: April 5 – 14, 11am – 4pm
Where: Gomond St, Maylord Shopping Centre
#8 Blacksmiths
What: With a number of HCA grads setting up in the surrounding area, Herefordshire has some great forges across the county. Photographers Matt Davies and Will Petit took a series of portraits of the county’s craftsmen and women in their natural habitat, and are showing them as part of Ferrous.
When: April 5 – 14, 11am – 4pm
Where: Gomond St, Maylord Shopping Centre
#9 Emerging practice
What: Sound-making scultures, kinetic art – if you though blacksmithing was just about horseshoes, this exhibition will prove beyond all doubt to the contrary. It’s a showcase of some of the more forward-thinking design and fine art piece to have been hammered in to existence on Folly Lane this year.
When: April 5 – 14, 11am – 4pm
Where: Gomond St, Maylord Shopping Centre
#10 Alumni
What: Talking of Folly Lane, four former graduates and current professionals from different HCA year-groups return for a joint show on Maylord Street. Sam Pearce, Christian Vaughan-Jones, Toby Forbes Gower and Tom Nicolson are those exhibiting.
When: April 5 – 14, 11am – 4pm
Where: Gomond St, Maylord Shopping Centre
#11 Ferrous Cinema
What: The brilliant team behind MASH Cinema have put together a programme that celebrates all things blacksmithing on the big screen. Head down to the Speakeasy at the Left Bank on Saturday afternoon for short films, docos and animation.
When: April 6, 12pm – 6pm
Where: The Speakeasy, The Left Bank, Bridge St
#12 + #13 Lectures + talks
See the Lectures + Talks page for more on these.
#Pop-Up
When: Any time
Where: Anywhere
What: Like a ninja with an anvil, Simon Bushell of The Nowhere Forge will be taking his travelling workshop all over town, spreading sparks and happiness as he goes. More on him on The Nowhere Forge page.
