Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Foldforming or beating metal in Calgary

Well you might register from the title of this post that Fiona and I are in Calgary. We have come here so that I can take part in a Summer School course in Foldforming at the Alberta College of Arts and Design.


The course is being taught be Charles Lewton-Brain the founder of this form of metal working.

I started the four day course today with 9 others - most from Canada but one person from Russia and one from Israel.

The day was full on - there was not a lot of idle time for food or sitting around. That is good news for me - I like to really get into it. At he end of the day we had progressed through 3 categories: lines; spirals; and stars. I managed to do 9 work samples.


As you can see from the photos above there are some great shapes. For me it is a good combo of: familiarity with tools; metal beating; and learning quick design approaches that deliver spectacular organic form (Noela I know that is so unlike me - but I and looking to create the organic within a square framework). Am looking forward to tomorrow.

4 comments:

  1. These are wonderful! And it sounds like a fabulous course.

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  2. L-yes it is fabulous - full on and providing an opportunity to add new dimensions to my work. B

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  3. Looking good, Barry! How thick is the gauge of the forged line fold in the bottom photo? It looks semi thick and could be a nice cuff.

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  4. Thanks Wendy - it's 24 gauge copper, quite firm and stiff, Barry

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Comments are welcomed - it is good to connect with fellow travellers.