Daniel Boone and Art Deco

Today I went to see Bill Allen, a blacksmith out in Clarksburg, Maryland. Wedged in between a few hills his red barn and smith shop prominently stuck out. As he came out to greet me he was looking around the car as if he was expecting another person. It's because he was; he was expecting my daughter. Somewhere in my phone call from Starbucks yesterday, over the sounds of blenders and GW students chatting, I guess it sounded like I wanted to bring my daughter.

Instead, I showed him my baby, my new 50$ pole vise. He said it looked good, with a little bit of love and care it could be restored to something like new.

Bill has been blacksmithing for fourteen years. He was first introduced to blacksmithing at a crafts fair where Dan Boone (a descendant of the Daniel Boone) had set up a portable smithy and was demonstrating how to create a dragon's head out of metal. Bill began asking questions and Dan eventually pointed him in the direction of his local chapter of ABANA. From there on out Bill took some classes and taught himself.

What I have found is that a basic knowledge in all things welding proves to be an invaluable skill. Most of Bill's joinery is done through welding. He has been welding since 1970, at least that is the date he purchased the oxyacetylene torch now sitting in his shop.

Tomorrow I'll be visiting Tim Beachley in Fredrick, Maryland. According to Bill, Tim is relatively young but really growing as a blacksmith.

Because I don't have any new pictures, here are some pictures of ironwork in Savannah that I never got to share:


I believe it fitting that SCAD building have a hand forged railing. One is able to tell that the railing was made by forge and hammer because the scrolls aren't symmetrical.

This picture is a little bit blurry but you are still able to see the detail that fascinated me. The fact is that in a city where all the architecture is stuck in the 19th century, this home-owner was able to install Art Deco inspired iron work.

The District's Best

Even with the Potomac churning in the winds of the District, Jefferson and his words stood eternal.


This afternoon Kat took me along the waterfront and bought shoes at BCBG. We viewed the million dollar shacks in Georgetown and had a classic Italian dinner at the Paper Moon.

Seeing what people can do with glass makes me wonder how it can be incorporated into metal. This piece was in the Renwick Gallery. Sadly, Paley's Portal Gates had just recently been returned to the museum and weren't installed yet.

Fifth Floor of the Adams Building and in the Cathedral's Crypt

Today I woke up early in order to go read the Library of Congress. Stepping into the crisp D.C. air I joined the throng of suits, yuppies and aspiring politicians on the train inbound. Even the subways are utilitarian, built with nothing but reinforced concrete.

After registering and becoming an "official researcher" I traveled through the underground tunnel to the Adams building to read in the Science and Technology room. The reading room lay on the fifth floor. With vaulted ceilings held up by pillars of concrete and marble, the room was spacious enough to give the feel of a library; however, if you took away the cherry reading tables and the shelves holding the encyclopedias, the room might easily pass for a common room in a prison, except for the fact that they tend to put windows in prisons.

For quite a few hours today I indulged myself in The Contemporary Blacksmith by Dona Z. Meilach. As I read I came upon her description of a certain blacksmith by the name of Albert Paley whose work actually resides in the lower level of the National Cathedral. Pictures and descriptions are all fine and good but to lay hand and eye upon a piece is an irreplaceable experience. I packed my belongings, put my books on hold for another day and made my way through subway and over streets.

Prof. Beatty at Holy Cross mentioned Paley before. At the moment Paley might be one the of preeminent metal sculptors in the United States. The way that the metal in his gate wraps and weaves makes for a piece that is at once in discord and harmoniously in sync. Your eye is drawn to the vacant space in the middle of the sun and the aptly placed bronze and then your eye follows the rays of light as they play and undulate throughout. My pictures don't do it justice; however, you can see his process on his web page.

Across from Paley's piece was another intricate gate. The sheer detail in these pieces is amazing.

I was surprised by the gate that you see above. For the most part gates are one static fixture. What the artist did with this piece was to make the inside sections fluid. The artist joined the pieces in such a way that they were hinged off one another.

According to Dona Meilach, there is one more Paley piece I need to see tomorrow at the Renwick gallery...

DC Thus Far

Interception - Mark Tansey

The sails of the Dutch are beautiful and bold, as tall and proud as the towers and buildings of their cities.

Sargent has grown on me and might be my favorite American painter.

I've found D.C. to be dominated by concrete buildings...

I'm from DC - Tabi Bonney

I can see the sky.  Instead of towers looming over me, I can see the sky.  In Washington D.C. it was blue today.  To have towers overhead in New York  it almost felt safe, as if the soaring buildings acted like walls, surrounding me, keeping me from feeling the harsh reality of life beyond Manhattan.

The reality is that people work in Manhattan and live elsewhere.  Even Terry lived in Newark and took the express in. The reality is that Manhattan, to me, is still more of an idea and in that non-physical, intangible form I can still shape it into the New York of hopes and dreams.  

In D.C. I feel like a transplant; I feel as though everyone in the city is a transplant, no one actually lives here.  Its too clean.  Everyone comes into the city for show, like the senators to the senate for the most important votes.  I wonder what I expected.  Perhaps more giant, more imposing monuments.  I wanted to be confronted by history and a sense of shameless nationalism.  When I first entered D.C. the car came over the crest of a hill and idyllically the capitol building sat on the horizon with the Washington Memorial behind it jutting into the sky.  I believe its important that no buildings dwarf those monuments and in this way I'm semi-alright with the surrounding urban sprawl.  I've yet to be beyond Kat's dorm, Trader Joes, and Starbucks.  Tomorrow I'll have pictures, tomorrow I'll be a tourist in our nation's capitol.