Functional Art
Architectural blacksmith Glenn Gilmore forges ahead
Gilmore in his studio strikes while the
iron is hot. Photo by Tommy McNabb
This expressive and pictorial railing was commissioned
for the corporate headquarters of a major foundation
in Atlanta, Ga. The design elements include squirrels, fox,
birds, rabbits, a person reading a book, oak trees and flowers
all individually hand forged and designed to relate to the
clients’ interests. Photo by Tommy McNabb
This fireplace screen for the Two Feathers Ranch was designed to incorporate the ranch logo with unique hand forged copper feathers, forged steel arrowheads and a southwest Native American pattern for the frame. Photo by Tommy McNabb
This impressive hall table aptly named, Aspen Solace, features a hand formed copper top with a raised ridge design and a steel border band of hand forged aspen leaves and branches set off by a bark texture background. Photo by Tommy McNabb
The
Fleur-de-lis fireplace door in this Vail Valley residence features one of the clients’ two dogs formed from sheet copper using repousse, an ancient metalsmithing technique, where many
small tools and hammer blows are used to bring the image to life. Photo By:
Kelly Gorham| RATE THIS ARTICLE: | | (RANK: +1) |
| |
His interest in working with metal began in the early 1970s when he was racing bicycles. He thought he wanted to get into building bikes and took some welding and machining classes. This led him to enroll in a horseshoeing school in 1974.
At the school, Gilmore learned about forging horseshoes and making tools. He learned to take a flat piece of steel and heat it, pound it, shape and groove it into a horseshoe. He then began thinking more about how the basic skills he was learning could be used to create art. In 1978 he went to a metal arts conference in New York.
“That was sort of my first vision of what forged metal work could be structurally and artistically,” he said.
From that point Gilmore took a circuitous route in forging his craft. He worked for a time as a glass blower in Tennessee. He was a student and later taught at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina. In 1984 he traveled to Belgium and Germany to study at the International Teaching Center for Metal Design.
  
| |
| | RATE THIS ARTICLE: | | (RANK: +1) |
|
PHOTO CREDITS >>
