Statements in metal

By Mary Alice Garrett

This article originally appeared August 30, 2007 in The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware.

It wasn’t called a fantasy camp, but it might have been. Nine area adults discovered a creative side of themselves they never realized they had. All attended the Marshall Bridge

Welding Workshop outside the studio of Stan Smokler in Kennett Township, Pa.

Smokler’s sixth workshop was held on the ruins of the former Marshallvalle Dairy. Smokler, a fine arts professor with the Delaware College of Art and Design, bought the property, outbuildings and stone barn ruins nine years ago and turned them into a studio and outdoor workshop area. His workshops have become popular with people of varying vocations from ages 16 to 70.

After teaching welding techniques and how to use the various materials, Smokler encouraged the participants to experiment and "do things they’ve never done before." He also urged them to create whatever they wanted to do.

"Everyone has a way of looking at the world," he noted as he pointed to student Mary Patterson’s metal dream catcher. "It has to have meaning to the person. No critical elementis involved. It’s really a matter of sharing. Intelligentsia is not a priority, it’s passion."

“I’ve been busting to do this. It’s even better than I thought it would be," said kitchen planner Cathi Hodgins of Carrcroft, in Brandywine Hundred. Hodgins said she also liked the bucolic setting along the Red Clay Creek. "There’s just so much happiness here."

Several, like Steve Lustig of Landenberg, Pa., took a week’s leave from work to attend. “I’ve never taken an art course in my life," said the DuPont research scientist who works with super computers. "This is instant gratification."

Lustig, a resident of Landenberg, said he had always wanted to express himself artistically. "I never would have done this in college — never."

Christine Tate of Bellefonte attended for a sixth time. She wanted to take wood and metal shop in high school, but because of her gender, was forced to take sewing. "This is very different from what I ordinarily do — grading papers and showing slides," said the head of academic studies at DCAD.

It was Patterson’s first time welding. "After the first day, I went home and had a complete anxiety attack. I said I don’t know what I’m doing," recalled the Rockland resident, who described herself as a gardener.

Instead of giving up, she looked around her horse farm and turned up some old iron artifacts to repair or to make into something at the workshop.

Retired banker Jay Headley of Greenville came after taking a metal sculpture course at the Delaware Art Museum. "This is way bigger than that," he noted. "There’s a lot to learn — a lot to know," Headley said, referring to the four welding methods taught at the workshop.

It was a second workshop for Christy Hannum Miller of Kennett Square. The former English teacher made a metal table with an etched bird design on top. The bird was etched by Kelly Wrage of Hockessin and later used as a poster design.

Bill Spiker of Wilmington had taken three of Smokler’s workshops and another in Colorado six years ago. "l’ve learned a lot more here. It’s safer too. It’s a lot of fun — a wonderful environment," added the former graphic design firm owner.

Last summer, Spiker and Smokler held a joint show at The Blue Streak Gallery in Trolley Square. "I’m just now getting a collection that I probably should think about selling some of my work," said Spiker.

Many arrived with an idea for a welding project. For Lustig it was a whimsical cocktail table. He got the idea when he sat on his deck and didn’t have a place to put his drink. Lustig had a granite top fabricated, then made the frame and legs from rusty pipes. He used a "gouging" welding technique on the legs to give them the texture of tree bark. He also made feet which resembled those of a three—toed sloth. Lustig welded chain link for a table—top insert to hold four drinks.

"It kind of hands you your drink," he said.

Now that Lustig knows how to weld, he plans to build a screened lanai onto his home. He has gotten estimates of $50,000 to $60,000, but he figures he can cut that to $10,000 by doing the work himself using his new welding skills.

Headley and his wife needed two tables to hold stereo speakers and lamps, so he made two metal ones and painted them black. Hodgins welded metal art from old objects he had collected over the years. A freeform duck was fashioned from a winch and axe handle and an 1800s waffle iron was made into a sculpture.

A stuffed crow inspired Patterson to create a metal red—tailed hawk from old implements she had. She also made a post for an old iron gate and a large metal dream catcher for her garden.

Spiker refined some of his "organic pieces" inspired by nature. Last year, he sold a large metal horseshoe crab that he exhibited at The Blue Streak Gallery.

Tate made spiral stepping stones for her garden and a large metal flower from an old tractor part. She also refined a three-part planter she had made last year by welding silver reflecting balls to it. (The original ones, not welded in place were stolen.)

Assisting Smokler were teaching assistants David Meyer, Adam Vorhauer and Ron Brignac.

Meyer, a fine arts faculty member at the University of Delaware, said the workshop was "a very nice vacation from academia. We have no real agenda. People start doing what they want. There’s something about play. Great ideas can be found in that."

Brignac is area coordinator for photography at DCAD; Vorhauer is a recent master’s of fine arts graduate from UD.