ABANA Featured Forgings
Online Exhibition of Forged Work
Connections
On view through October 1, 2025.
This exhibition focuses on the idea of connections—either physical or metaphorical. Some of the work shown is driven by design choices, showcasing the literal connections used in forging metal. Some pieces connect disparate pieces or differing materials together, while others hint at emotional or metaphorical connections. Thank you to all the participants in this Featured Forgings Online Exhibition, and be sure to check out the next call for entries that is open now!
Alexander Kamelhair
Untitled.
Frida Tranum Nielsen
Tipsy Table. This little bedside table was made as a final project for my third year at Sätergläntan in May 2024. I wanted to play with the line between form and function / furniture and sculpture, while using traditional techniques to do so. It is made from steel, burned pine and copper, and I’ve used wedged mortises and tenons to join it all together. It’s inspired by grandma’s antique furniture after they’ve had one too many, and its hobbies include dancing, tea parties, and breaking into your liquor cabinet.
Jonathan Barr
Basalt Inspired Vessel. This small vessel utilizes several forms of connection: upset forge welding, brazing with copper, and tig welding. One of the main focuses of this piece is the connection between ferrous and nonferrous material, inspired by columnar basalt and the volcanic activity that is often found in its vicinity. Mild steel and copper, 3″ x 4″ x 0.5″. Photo courtesy of Elise DeVries.
Reinis Petersons
Untitled. A set of steel/copper bracelets custom-forged for a family. The design and realization were guided by themes such as the Moon and Sun, the conjoining of opposites, plants, seeds, growth, and transformation. A complete walkthrough of the work process can be seen here.
Brian Donahue
Donahue Fine Arts
Website
Brigid’s Cross. Chiseled quote: “Calm me into a quietness that heals and listens.” Mild steel – Connections, literal and spiritual . 48” x 18” x 24”
Gus Baldwin
Rib Cage. The Rib Cage took inspiration from tight-fitting gibbeting cages and the skeletons found amongst them. In a new light of using torture instruments in a BDSM setting, I wanted this piece to convey lust and control. I’ve achieved this through smooth rolled edges over the elegantly shaped steel, all joined from the behind with a single rod to act as a hinge. This allows the restraint to be seamless when it opens and closes around a victim, restricting movement of the arms and upper body. Either on display or in use, the form of the Rib Cage holds great symmetry and a visual interest in its skeletal aesthetic. This cage consists of 16 hand forged heavy components all to specification. The 16 kilograms of weight is meant to be encumbering and difficult for the user. Once trapped under the tension and heavy burden of metal, the victim is easily manoeuvrable by the spines along the back
Kelly Kring
Hot Off the Anvil, LLP.
Facebook
Untitled Railing. Built by Kelly Kring, Patrick Thaden, and MacKenzy Floto. This railing was installed at the LDS visitor center in Rome, Italy. Weld, rivets, compression sockets, and collars.
Sergey Denisiuk
Pair of Candlesticks. The main idea: to make stylish candlesticks using optimal visual means without using welding.
Aimie Botelho
Shelf | 2024. 16″ x 9″ 7″. Mild steel, wood.
I haven’t made many things that I get to keep, so for me, the purpose of this project was to experiment with various stacking combinations for wedge joints – or in other words, to give myself time to play. After doing some drawings, I forged a number of different combinations and then began rearranging them to see if they would do anything better than what I could think up (they did). I used the process to observe how adding, removing, and reforging pieces shifted the overall appearance of the form. What I was left with was not only this shelf but more importantly a whole puzzle of interesting parts to reference for future stacked wedges. I think that it’s not only the idea of tension that attracts many of us to the look of wedge joints, but also the over and under motion that suggests a piercing or threading; evidence of an active and moving material.
Isabella Dobbs
Certain Future. This forged copper and brass mask is an excerpt from my BFA show and symbolizes the inevitable fate of death.
George Bandarra
Bandi’s Iron Hammer
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Watching You. Life-size elk mount forged from stainless steel, copper, and mild steel.
Will Vick
Copper Rosette Door Pull. The main bar of this heavily textured door pull was forged by hand from a 2-foot piece of 1” round bar, with holes hot punched to accept the tenons on the standoffs, which were riveted hot, and then the vines around each rivet were wrapped around the main bar. The copper rosettes at the center of each scroll were hot forged from ¼” stock, and then riveted onto the main bar. The piece was finished with a black patina and sculptural wax and is about 20” tall. This door pull features two types of traditional blacksmith connections, the rivets of the tenons and rosettes, and the simple wrap of the vines. Each serving as both a connection between the parts and as a central part of the decorative design of the piece. There is a third but impermanent connection, that between the door pull and the human hand opening the door. It is a connection between the person and not only the door handle itself, but the building and the space within, a handshake before you step inside. The purpose of a door pull is to be the part of a building most interacted with, over years the constant touch of innumerable hands can leave their mark on the metal of a door handle, wearing it smooth.