The Bench is finished and installed, made by the Blacksmith Jazz – Dennis Dusek, John Barron, Monica Coyne, Brett Moten, Mike Limb, John Graham, Ian Brooks
Emails started flying between the “Blacksmith Jazz” members in February 2015, discussing the design of a collaborative project that would become a bench and would be donated to the Jake Jackson Museum in Weaverville, CA. Some of the emails had pictures of drawings; some were just wordy details of the design and joinery to be incorporated into the project.
Their first meeting on the project was at the Weaverville Hammer-in in Weaverville, CA, March 2015. They cemented the design for the bench and started to make the pieces together. I had a chance to have an impromptu interview with them from Weaverville; you can listen to the interview here, http://www.blacksmither.com/a-collaborative-project-at-the-weaverville-hammer-in-march-2015/, and you can view the video interview here, https://youtu.be/FJCKsPDGwV8.
Each of the members brought pieces back to their forges to continue the progress of the project. The “Blacksmith Jazz” met again, for a second time, on April 4th, 2015 at John Barron’s shop (Georgetown, CA). You can see the drawings and the progress on the bench pieces in this video interview we had, https://youtu.be/8UK2LKPgb7E.
They set the goal of finishing the bench and entering it in the Western States Blacksmithing Conference Gallery, which was held April 23 - 25, 2015. Not only did they finish it in time for the conference, the bench won the First Place in the People’s Choice Gallery Award! No doubt because of the skillfully forged ironwork, the baffling metal joinery that does not include any store bought hardware, and for the softness the walnut slabs exude.
The bench now resides in its new home in the Jake Jackson Museum. Nice work Blacksmith Jazz!!
