Repair Days
I just got back from Repair Days, and annual event hosted by The Metals Museum in Memphis Tennessee. Repairs Days is such a special event. The community of Memphis brings their broken metal items of ANY KIND to the museum to get repaired by us metalsmiths. I love this event because metal people from all over the country come, jewelers, blacksmiths, fabricators, metal casting folks, artists and educators. I have met so many people that I might never meet any other way. Three days of soldering, welding, tinning, sharpening and gathering with the metal community, its truly such a special event. The Metal Museum also hosts a Master Metalsmith each year and puts up an incredibly thoughtful exhibition of that person’s work. Usually this is someone that has been working in the field for years and has a vast collection of metal art pieces to exhibit. This year the artist presented was James Viste. His work is incredible and he is such a cool guy. He lived and taught metal in Detroit for a really long time but now he lives in Wisconsin. Here are some photos from the event.
Checking out the Metal Museum’s NEW facility (still under construction) with Anna Johnson and Elizabeth Brim Next year Repair Days will be at the new location!
For the last three years I have been lucky enough to be supporting students from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee who travel to the event to make repairs too! I graduated from UWM with my Master’s Degree so it feels great to stay so connected to what is happening there now. So many things! And their students are AWESOME.
A low temp solder demonstration. This is such a well kept secret and one of the best ways to fix a whole bunch of items that come in!
The beautiful work of James Viste. His surfaces are so incredible. I like how this one looks like chains.
More James Viste. Look at those containers!
Casting a whole bunch of molds one day. That molten iron steel in the flaming hot crucible that those folks are holding. Can you see the bottom plate? It says Metals Museum on it. So cool!
This was the last year that Repair Days will be held on the historic Bluff. The place where the Metals Museum first opened and have operated since day 1. Its the place I first discovered the museum and have created so many memories since. I know the new location will be awesome, but this site will always have a special place in my heart. xo