News & Events

UNC Asheville Blacksmithing Events to Highlight Region's Heritage; Metal Craftsmen to Speak at "Meet the Makers" Series

October 17, 2011

The UNC Asheville Art Department and the Craft Studies "Meet the Maker" lecture series have teamed up with the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership to give students the opportunity for hands-on blacksmithing on campus. Two top craftspeople, blacksmith Zack Noble of Bakersville and metalworker Andrew Hayes of Asheville, will be on campus for a weeklong residency.

Noble specializes in modern sculptural, functional and architectural work, and has taught at Penland School of Crafts and John C. Campbell Folk School. He has studied and worked with noted blacksmiths in Great Britain. His work has been featured in a number of books and craft magazines, and is in private collections across the U.S. His work can be seen online at zacknoble.com.

Hayes, who began his career as a welder, went on to study at Penland School of Crafts and now assists noted sculptor Hoss Halley. Hayes' small-scale metal fabrications have been shown at the National Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis, the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, Ore., and Blue Spiral One in Asheville.

The residency at UNC Asheville is sponsored by the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to interpret, promote, and preserve Western North Carolina’s cultural roots. "Blacksmithing is an ancient craft, but it has a long legacy here in the North Carolina mountains," said Rob Bell, the partnership's program manager. “We’re thrilled to see UNC Asheville focusing on blacksmithing with its craft artists.”

During their five-day residency, Noble and Hayes, along with assistant Cory Williams, will take UNC Asheville art students through an introduction to blacksmithing design techniques and hands-on work at UNC Asheville's forge, located next to Owen Hall. Three demonstrations at the forge will be open to the public: noon-1 p.m. and 4-5 p.m. October 19, and 10-11 a.m. October 20.

Nobel and Hayes will also be the featured speakers at the continuing "Meet the Makers: Conversations of Meaning with Craftspeople" lecture series, to be held at 7 p.m. October 20 in room 302, Owen Hall, on the UNC Asheville campus. The series is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact the UNC Asheville Art Department at 828.251.6559 or Brent Skidmore, UNC Asheville Craft Studies director, at 828.250.2390, or go online to art.unca.edu/meet-maker-series.