I am an artist blacksmith, my work fuses contemporary artistic ideas and design principles with traditional craft techniques. I have recently set up a workshop where I produce architectural and sculptural metalwork from forged steel. My blacksmithing career started 10 years ago by completing a training course at HCT (Herefordshire College of Technology). From this technical foundation I developed my making skills as a journeyman blacksmith in London, where I had the opportunity to be involved in a variety of challenging large-scale projects. Ironically it was imagining potential metal works in this highly urban environment that gave rise to my desire to give metal the aesthetic of growth and movement in natural form, excited by the way such a hard and heavy material can express the velocity and vitality of the organic. As my capabilities as a maker progressed I became increasingly eager to make work that expressed my ideas about the potential of forged metal used within a contemporary context and wanted to make material my own artistic vision. To realise my creative ambitions, I returned to education. Three years study on the Artist Blacksmithing degree course at HCA (Hereford College of Arts) allowed me the time, resources and support to define my visual style and to locate myself as a designer maker within the wider context of the contemporary art and craft scene. Blacksmithing is currently in a very exciting position; as a traditional production craft it has been superseded in many areas by modern industrial methods. Rather than dying out though, it is evolving as a new generation of artist are adopting traditional forging techniques as a visual language, creating a very interesting dialogue between art and craft. This is something that is integral to my design and making process. The experience of perfecting techniques through practice has furnished me with an innate understanding of the material potential of metal. The visual idea that underpins my ideas relates to growth and movement in natural form, the way it is visually expressed within the structure of plants, skeletons and shells in particular. I gather information that conveys this idea using drawing to analyse structures in order to find forms and lines that can be the starting point for a design. To translate these drawings into steel I seek out methods of manipulating the metal: extruding, bending, punching, that will emphasise the essential qualities of the original form. Rather than creating a replica of the original form in metal, I aim to borrow and decipher its energy. I am currently working on a commission to produce two large garden gates and a pergola for a private client who is remodelling their garden to accommodate a large Lyn Chadwick sculpture. I am also producing a new body of sculptural work to be shown in galleries nationally from early Spring.

STARTS

Recently shown at the Milan Furniture Fair, Laura Carnell’s unique inlaid timber and pewter tiles would be a welcome addition to any home, contemporary or traditional. Laura, of Rara Design, offers a bespoke service for the design, specification and construction of contemporary inlaid furniture. Working in sustainable hardwoods to produce beautiful, high-quality pieces, she develops personalised illustrations that can be inlaid into the wood, imbuing surfaces with delicacy and meaning.

CHI VAY HA

The exhibition of Chi Vay Ha is showing at The New Brewery Arts gallery, Brewery Court, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 1JH 8th March - 20th April 2008

The exhibition of Chi Vay Ha is currently showing at The New Brewery Arts, Brewery court, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 1JH, 8th March - 20 April 2008