Blacksmith has a bash making metal art using glassblowing techniques
Jacob Brown was wielding a sledgehammer when he was 5. His parents let him smash stuff.
“They’d give me whatever broken equipment we’d have and I’d sit in the backyard with a sledgehammer and try to break it open,” he said. “The guts of things were a lot cooler than the outside, generally. I destroyed so many things in that backyard; like a really nice typewriter one time.
Metal artist Jacob Brown's work is a part of the exhibit “Metal in Memphis” at Dixon Gallery and Gardens.
STORY TOOLS
RELATED STORIES
More Visual Arts News
- Abstract works at U of M are thoughtful, spontaneous
- Beauty of the Bible inspires artist's paintings
- Young artist makes his mark in Memphis
Share and Enjoy [?]
“My grandfather was an engineer, so whenever I would go and visit them he would lay a blanket out on the floor and we would take apart a TV or a vacuum cleaner. Smashing was fun, but I was way better at taking things apart and putting them back together.”
As a blacksmith, Brown, 25, still is getting to the guts of things using hammers and other home-made tools. Using principles of glass blowing, he created vases out of steel. Three of them are on view in the exhibit “Metal in Memphis” at Dixon Gallery and Gardens.
Growing up in Benicia, Calif., near San Francisco, Brown’s neighbors were noted glass makers Michael Nourot and Ann Corcoran. Their son, Nick, was one of Brown’s first friends. “They’d give us a rod with a big blob of glass on the end and we would just kind of stab at it with some tools and make little blob monsters.”
Later, Brown began working at the glass factory. He thought about becoming a glass blower, but switched from glass to metal after visiting The Crucible — “this sort of fire arts industrial complex put together by a bunch of artists that would share each other’s tools and teach classes.”
On a visit to the complex with his mom, Brown noticed people sitting on a couch in the front room. “They looked all dirty and so happy. And I was like, ‘I want to be that dirty.’ They were wearing overalls and they were covered in soot and just as pleased as can be.”
Brown immediately signed up for welding and sculpture classes. “I made giant masks out of metal, big faces and monsters.”
He later enrolled in The Oxbow School, an accelerated arts boarding school in Napa. His parents let him convert half the garage to a metal studio. He’d often “hop into a dumpster and start throwing stuff into the back of my truck. Like big pieces of re-bar and metal, whatever was in there. And take it back to my house and dump it into a big pile in the alley and start putting it together into weird things — found object abstract figurative metal sculpture. It’s very California.”
Brown continued to make metal sculptures at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but things changed after friends introduced him to the National Ornamental Metal Museum. Recalling his first visit, Brown said, “I fell in love with it right away. I wanted to be part of the family. It really is a family.”
He began doing volunteer work at the museum. “At that point I knew I wanted to be a blacksmith. I saw all the great things they were doing and the tools they were making. Having fun. Being dirty.”
Back in Chicago, Brown began working strictly in the school’s blacksmith shop “just trying to figure out how to move metal around.”
In 2008, James Wallace, former National Ornamental Metal Museum director, hired Brown as intern apprentice, a two year job.
While at the museum, Brown thought about combining glass and blacksmithing techniques to make vessels. “The similarities between the two are interesting. Glass is a lot more malleable. It’s at the same temperature as metal is, (but) metal is a bit stiffer material.”
Brown’s internship will be over this year. This summer, he’ll be the museum’s resident artist.
As for future plans, Brown said, “I have some ideas for tools that I actually might be able to use and produce and sell.”
And, he added, “I want to have some land. I don’t really want to hear any cars. And I want to be able to see the stars at night.”
Contact Michael Donahue at 529-2797 or e-mail donahue@commercialappeal.com.
“Metal in Memphis”
The exhibit, featuring works by Jacob Brown, Kevin Burge, Andy Dohner, Mary Catherine Floyd, Jim Masterson and Jeannie Tomlinson Saltmarsh, is on view through March 18 at Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 4339 Park. Call: 761-5250.
Comments » 1
Bluesfan1959 writes:
That's what artist do, they let all of the serendipitous moments guide them to a direction where they can truly express themselves. I'm glad Jacob brown found his hearts desire.
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.