Curatorial Statement

Hammer & Hand:
Contemporary American Metal
Anna Fariello, Curator

According to legend, the Roman god Vulcan captured lightening bolts to fuel his forge deep in the Earth beneath the volcano, Mt. Etna. Applying his hammer and hand, he crafted weapons for fellow gods and mortal heroes, including thunderbolts for Zeus, a bow and arrows for Cupid, armor for Aeneas, and Helios's magnificent chariot. While 20th century life is a far cry from Vulcan's world, American metalsmiths still make work by grasping hammer in hand and applying force to metal held hot against a steel anvil.

While much of today's metal working processes are the same as those practiced in the past, today's products are unique to our times. The smiths in Hammer & Hand: Contemporary American Metal 2004, add expressive qualities to functional work, creating hybrid forms. Fanciful teapots, all manner of vessels, folding knives, and ornamented candlesticks are part of their contemporary expression. These objects and others like them join the ranks of well-made utilitarian works of art. That they can be used is almost beside the point.

More than being about use, the work of today's smiths is about metal. What can metal do? How can it be shaped? Infinite variations produce excitement and untold hours of patient working out of technical and aesthetic problems. While some smiths in this show have produced pieces that have no discernable use, their work functions nevertheless. Along with their utilitarian brothers and sisters, their works quench our thirst for new forms, feed our need for texture, and bathe us in subtle coloration. The spark that ignited Vulcan's forge fueled the flame that forever sparked the creative spirit.