Ladies and Gentlemen,
I'd love it if you would like to record your fond memories of that metal working school, weird stories of things that happened at that metal working school, realizations you had while attending one of our classes or workshops, epiphanies you experienced while enjoying that metal working school and whatever else comes to mind that you'd like to share.
Please email your written comments to: anvilgirl@sbcglobal.net. We'll post them here on this blog to share with everyone.
This is a great way to mourn our loss and celebrate our accomplishments.
thanks,
hOlly

4/24/10

The Latest Comments by SmartShop Fans.

these are posted with the author's permission.

Amy Lynn Crabtree Campbell
It is criminal that SmartShop Kalamazoo is closing down. With all the half@ss things I see funded in this town, county and state, how the hell do you justify letting SmartShop Metal Arts Center cease operating because of fiscal concerns? For shame. That's all. For shame.


Doug Mitchell
...this saddens me to NO end...

1 comment:

kalevaguy said...

Goodbye Smartshop

Over the winter, spring, and summer of 2006 I decided to treat myself to metalwork. A ‘turning-60-gift’ to myself. Thus began an “internship” at Smartshop. Holly’s first question was, “what do you want to do, create, produce?” Work without a vision, a tangible end result, was unacceptable. I had decided to create plant hangers, for the front of a house, in Kaleva, Michigan, where Deanna and I would live beginning in 2007.

That two word statement, ‘plant hangers,’ began a process: a crude sketch, a final corrected sketch, a full size chalk drawing on a metal layout table, sketches of the individual parts, selection of materials, welding lessons, lessons on the forge, creation of a jig to bend and form parts, and the work to create my plant hangers. All that interspersed with mistakes, straightening, and reforming metal.

During my year in Smartshop I became intoxicated with the aroma of hot metal and coal smoke. I listened for the sizzle and crack of a welder; learned to love the ring of my hammer on metal, and, looked for just the right color in hot metal drawn from a forge, ready for the hammer.

At the end of the year, I left with my finished projects, and moved Up North. Plant hangers now help dress the front of our house. A table, metal base and birch top, holds plants near an east window. The rebar plant trellis, our first class project, holds summer plants and Christmas decoration.

Recently, an artist, a writer, told me that to produce something, “one must enter into the crucible.” I look back on Smartshop as a crucible. My work pales alongside that of Holly and the metal smiths I was privileged to work alongside. I enjoyed creating my meager objects, and especially enjoyed the process: from idea to sketch, selection of materials, forming metal, finishing, and final product. During the process, I observed artists at work; observed the fruits of skill, training, vision, and attention to detail. It was fun. I fondly remember learning how to color hot metal with crayons.

It’s sad that Smartshop is closing. Institutions must tend to business, keep the books balanced, assure that money is well spent, avoid endless debt. Holly must find her next place. I wish you well, Holly. And, Kalamazoo’s Art Hop will be just a bit less exciting with the loss of Smartshop’s lovely touch of artistic chaos, tinged with the smell of hot metal and the ring of hammer on metal.