CanIRON V - Take Another Heat

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Adrian Legge - United Kingdom

Adrian apprenticed as both a blacksmith and a farrier from 1978 - 1982, and was self-employed in these fields from 1981 - 1989. Adrian held the posts of lecturer and subsequent Head of Section at Herefordshire Collage of Technology from 1987 - 2001. He then became Team Leader responsible for running the Centre for Rural Crafts, a position he currently occupies. Adrian is a member and past secretary of BABA. He has exhibited widely in the UK, and has demonstrated as well in Poland and the USA.

Henry Pomfret - United Kingdom

Born 1953. Henry attended a short course in blacksmithing with Stuart Hill in 1983. He was elected to the council of BABA in 1985 and 1987, and served as forgemaster, and member of the co-ordinating committee, at the First International Festival of Iron, Cardiff, Wales in 1989. Henry worked as a self-employed blacksmith from 1984-1991, a journeyman smith and teacher in the UK and Africa from 1992 -1999. He has taught blacksmithing at Herefordshire College of Technology, Hereford, since 2000.

Fred Crist - United States

Fred received a BFA in sculpture from the Philadelfia College of Art in 1977. He was employed by Samuel Yellin Metalworkers from 1977 - 1988. While there he advanced to the position of Mastersmith. Fred has executed major works for the City of Philidelphia, the National Cathedral in Washington DC. and the University of Pittsburg. He has exhibited in Germany, China, and throughout the USA. Fred was awarded a professional Fellowship in Sculpture by the Virginia Museum, in 1999.

Christoph Friedrich - Switzerland

Born 1952. Christoph apprenticed as a farrier/carriage maker, and set up his own workshop in 1978. He received his Master Diploma in the blacksmith trade in 1980. In 1981 he resored an old water powered hammerforge in Sennwald, Switzerland, from which he still works. Christoph has demonstrated and lectured in the USA, the UK,

David James - United Kingdom

Born 1958. David apprenticed to his father in 1977, in the familiy business started by his great great grandfather in 1841. He took over the business in 1987. David has served as both a BABA committee member ( 1984 - 1987 ), and as BABA Chairman ( 1987- 1989 ). He has exhibited widely, and is an Associate of the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths.

Brad Silberberg - United States

Born 1953. Brad owns and operates Mesa Creative Arts, Inc. in Burgettstown, PA. He is a self- taught artist-blacksmith, having learned his craft primarily from books and trial and error practice.

A graduate of the University of Maryland Department of Studio Art, he produced primarily architectural forged ironwork and furniture for 20 years. He now devotes his shop time to small commissions, sculpture and making energy healing tools out of metal.

Paul & Heiner Zimmermann - Germany

Born 1939. Paul apprenticed as a metalworker from 1953 - 1956. Between 1956 - 1960 Paul won an award for gifted students and spent time in intermediate study, partly abroad. In 1962 he qualified as Master Craftsman after a year at Luisenschule, Munich, and taught in a vocational institute in Munich during 1962 -1963. Paul set up his own workshop in Pliezhausen in 1964. Paul has demonstrated at several international blacksmithing conferences, and has won awards nationally and internationally. He has exhibited in Germany, England, France, Italy, Spain, Russia and the USA.

Born 1969. Heiner apprenticed at the studio of his father Paul Zimmermann from 1987 - 1990. Since then he has worked with, and studied under, such blacksmiths as Jefrey Funk, Alfred Habermann, Alan Evans, Olav Punt, and Herman Gradinger. He opened his own shop in 2002. Heiner has demonstrated and lectured in Germany, Finland, Italy, Norway and the USA

Doug Newell - Cochrane, Alberta, Canada.

Doug is a British born blacksmith based near Calgary, Alberta. He studied forge work at the Hereford Technical College and the Hereford College of Art. To increase his artistry Doug has also taken classes in subjects as diverse as jewellery and pottery. For Doug, learning and teaching are many faceted experiences. His works include window grilles, gates, ballustrading and sculptural ironwork.

John Little - East Dover, Nova Scotia, canada

John Little is a Nova Scotian blacksmith/sculptor. He was born in Newark, New Jersey (USA) in 1943. Having received a BA from Brown University in 1965, John pursued a Master's degree in psychology at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Since 1970 he has been a full-time blacksmith in East Dover, Nova Scotia and has exhibited locally, nationally and internationally, with works in private and public collections.

His architectural work can be found throughout Atlantic Canada. For over 30 years John has been forging iron and steel into decorative and sculptural forms. His commitment to exploration of form, technique, and innovation has consistently led him in new and exciting directions. Inspired by his lifelong involvement with percussion he has recently discovered some very interesting acoustic possibilities related to forged sculptural objects. His sound sculptures have been used in a variety of new music genres from orchestral to dance to jazz.

Becky Little - East Dover, Nova Scotia, Canada

Becky studied philosophy and religion at King's College, Halifax. Whilst searching for an education and career that could be physically, emotionally and mentally satisfying, she began an apprenticeship with her father, artist blacksmith John Little. What Becky finds most exhilarating is the physical act of creating new forms out of steel and fire and energy. She has been experimenting with functional metalwork, body art and ornamental pieces.

Kellysmyth - United States

Kellysmyth was recently chosen to participate in the thirty-eighth annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Mall in Washington, DC (summer 2004) at the "Waterways: The Past, the Present, and the Future of the MidAtlantic Maritime Communities" venue. Kelly was pleased and delighted by this privilege and opportunity plus its significant recognition for work done forging (not fabricating) ships' hardware for three recently constructed historic ships: Susan Constant/1607/Jamestown Settlement (work completed 1991/ 8 months), Kalmar Nyckel/1638/near the Rocks on the Christina River (work completed 1998/30 months), and the Sultana/1768/homeported in Chestertown, Maryland (work completed 2001/12months).

In addition, Kelly has researched the history of ships' hardware and was invited to present a paper ("On Developments in Ships' Hardware From the Vikings to the Eve of the Age of Discovery") with slides at the international Sixth Maritime Heritage Conference in Wilmington, North Carolina (fall 2001).

Begun as a general preparation for adult maritime blacksmith workshops for the WoodenBoat School (in Brooklin, Maine), Kelly's goal was to review, evaluate, and retrieve as much information as possible from a nearby university library on historic blacksmithing, shipbuilding, and iron manufacturing for interested students in the evenings. Although secondary to the hands-on focus of the workshops, it was this study and subsequent paper that led to Kelly's first invitation to the Smithsonian to review ships' hardware recovered from the wreck of Cleopatra's Barge; the first American yacht built in Salem, Mass in 1816 and owned by the King of Hawaii when lost 1824.

Kelly's work has been included in Early American Life magazine's Directory of Traditional Crafts, their annual juried selection of the best practitioners of traditional trades in the States (1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004). This prestigious award is based on quality of workmanship, fidelity to period design, and use of traditional tools or techniques.

Besides forging historic ships' hardware, Kelly has also spent a year in a large architectural blacksmith shop in Germany, interpreted and demonstrated blacksmithing at two of the premier living history museums in the States, and during the last five years, begun offering blacksmith workshops for both adults and young adults at a variety of local and regional venues. Kelly is looking forward to offering these workshops through the local community college this spring and summer.

In addition, work is scheduled to begin this spring forging hardware, primarily nails, for the upcoming John Smith 400 shallop project with the Sultana organization in Chestertown, Maryland.

Kelly is looking forward to CanIRON V as one of the highlights of her blacksmithing career.