Art Workshop - An Intro to Welding & Bending Steel

BANANA HAMMOCKS & OTHER ARMATURES: AN INTRO TO WELDING & BENDING STEEL

In one day, this workshop will teach students the basics of welding, bending, and cutting steel. We will take the design of metal banana hammocks, or fruit hangers, as a starting point and play with design possibilities to ultimately create a unique functional object. Technical demonstrations will include hot and cold bending, modular construction, welding, and surface-finishing strategies. Students will quickly gain confidence safely using equipment and be encouraged to play and improvise independently with the material at whatever scale they choose. This course is suitable for all levels of shop experience, and the techniques we will be learning require no great feats of strength or agility, only patience. Steel can work for everybody, so come as you are!

DEVIN BALARA’s recent work uses steel as a drawing material to depict cartoonish scenes inspired by bad omens, supernatural moments, desert island logic, and the outdoors as both unruly and picturesque. Her work has recently been exhibited at Comfort Station, Chicago; Ortega y Gasset Projects, New York; Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, New Jersey; SPRING/BREAK Art Show NYC; and DEMO Project, Springfield, Illinois. In 2014, Balara received the Sculpture magazine Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award. She has been an Artist-in-Residence at Monson Arts, Elsewhere museum and artists’ resi-dency, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Wassaic Project. Balara spends summers managing the sculpture studio at Ox-Bow. Originally hailing from Tampa, Florida, she holds an MFA in Sculpture from Indiana University Bloomington and a BFA from the University of North Florida.