our first (hopefully) annual iron pour

We collaborated with the experience and expertise of sculpture professor Emily Baker and her team at Georgia State University to host our first ever iron pour at Friday (our showroom and gallery space). The pour was a practice run for the GSU sculpture students in preparation for their upcoming competition at Sloss. It was also our first “big” fundraiser for our nonprofit Tradeswork Arts Foundation. To be honest, we weren’t sure how it was all going to go, so we were beyond thrilled with the success of the students and the furnace they built and with the community for showing up and supporting us.

Following in the sentiment of the Smithworks mantra of “slow and expensive since 2006,” Tradeswork is babystepping it’s way towards functional non-profit programming, “slow and scrappy since 2024?” Thanks for holding our hand as we step into this world and try to make a contribution that goes beyond the work we create for our clients. So far we have done school tours, hosted work study students, and promoted gallery shows. Everywhere we go, there are people who are interested in learning more about blacksmithing and exploring career options in the trades. We want to continue putting time and resources towards these efforts and expand our offerings. To help us in this endeavor, consider supporting our mission. We’ll see you at the next iron pour.