[TheForge] Speaking of age...

[Ries Niemi]

Its true Andy, you are just a pup- speaking from the ripe old age of 
51, I can say this.
I dont know how many young people are on the forge, but I do know that, 
out west anyway, we are in no danger of dying out.
When we have an NWBA meeting, which we do twice a year, I would guess 
that a good third of the attendees are in their 30's or younger, 
including a couple of enthusiastic teenagers.

I think on the east coast, and in the south, this may be more a 
retiree's hobby, but not out thisaway.

Pratt, in Seattle, and the Crucible in Oakland, are both teaching 
blacksmith classes year round, and both are young, art oriented crowds. 
Same with the guys I have met from Austin Comm. College in Texas.
One key thing that brings young people in- JOBS!

So in areas like Florida, or California, or here in the Northwest, 
where there are concentrations of working art blacksmith shops, with 
employees, you see young people. I have met a whole crew from florida, 
guys in their 20's and early 30's, who are whizzes with forging 
aluminum, because thats their day job.

Similarly, in Napa and Sonoma, there is a big cluster of working shops, 
because one winery can take 3 guys a year to do ironwork for. Lots of 
young people there.

Port Townsend has a big cluster as well- until Russell died, it had 3 
of the most accomplished and talented blacksmiths in the world working 
there- Russ Jaque, Steve Lopes, and Jim Garret, along with Dean Mook, 
and a bunch of younger guys who work for, or have worked for, one of 
the four of them at one time or another.

The Metal Building in Seattle is a beehive of art metal activity, with 
a bunch of shops, and lots of arty young metal kids coming and going.

And Louie has been running Black Dog Forge, in Downtown Seattle, for a 
while, bringing up young smiths all along the way.

ries


On Feb 2, 2007, at 5:33 AM, Andrew Vida wrote:

> I was wondering (has this come up before?), how many youngin's are on 
> theforge?  How's about we define that as anyone under 30?  I ask 
> because I feel as if I'm one of the younger people here and that got 
> me to wondering about whether there is a new generation to pick up 
> where and when we leave off?  I know of only a few young new-ish 
> smiths like Nigel Tudor (met him at Touchstone several years ago.  
> Very talented young guy).  Do things look promising for the coming 
> generation or are we heading down another dead end, a la 1970?
>
> Is anyone watching this?  Does ABANA hold this as an issue?  If not, 
> should they?
>
> 	-Andy
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Ries Niemi
Industrial Artist

http://www.RiesNiemi.com