Sandra Dunn's guest appearances

Sandra Dunn

BlacksmitHER Radio

The Art of Craft 

Forge Side Chat

Jake James

David Robertson

Joseph Campbell

Mike Jones

Patrick Moore

Jim Patterson

John Little

Chris Green

Rachel David

James Garvey

Anna Koplik

Michael Whipps

Haley Woodward

Colby Brinkman

David Lisch

OwlTail

The two hosers, Justin and Lando, interview Sandra Dunn, artist blacksmith of Two Smiths from Kitchener, Ontario.  Sandra is the main operator of Two Smiths. She goes into a bit of detail as to how the business came to be and where it is now. With two others in the shop fabricating and hosting classes with her she has quite the business on her hands.   She is no stranger in the Blacksmith community as you will hear with the work she did on a massive collaboration in Belgium.  A shout out to one of our founders in the podcast world, Victoria Patti!   Victoria was the host of Blacksmither Radio and definitely paved the path for a blacksmith podcast.   Much love for the work she has done for the community!--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/forgesidechat/message

The two hosers, Justin and Lando, interview Sandra Dunn, artist blacksmith of Two Smiths from Kitchener, Ontario.  Sandra is the main operator of Two Smiths. She goes into a bit of detail as to how the business came to be and where it is now. With two others in the shop fabricating and hosting classes with her she has quite the business on her hands. She is no stranger in the Blacksmith community as you will hear with the work she did on a massive collaboration in Belgium. A shout out to one of our founders in the podcast world, Victoria Patti! Victoria was the host of Blacksmither Radio and definitely paved the path for a blacksmith podcast. Much love for the work she has done for the community! --- Send in a voice message: <a href="https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/forgesidechat/message" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/forgesidechat/message</a>

Sandra Dunn of Two Smiths, Kitchener, On.

A graduate from University of Waterloo, Sandra  established a full-time blacksmithing practice in 1993. Seven years later she founded Two Smiths, a design and prototyping studio that develops and builds sculptures, functional objects and architectural features in forged steel, hammered copper and bronze for both private and public spaces.  Sandra has lectured, taught and worked on projects across Canada, and internationally in Belgium, France, Australia and the United States. https://www.twosmiths.ca/https://www.instagram.com/twosmiths.ca/?hl=en

A graduate from University of Waterloo, Sandra  established a full-time blacksmithing practice in 1993. Seven years later she founded Two Smiths, a design and prototyping studio that develops and builds sculptures, functional objects and architectural features in forged steel, hammered copper and bronze for both private and public spaces.  Sandra has lectured, taught and worked on projects across Canada, and internationally in Belgium, France, Australia and the United States.  <ul><li><a href="https://www.twosmiths.ca/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.twosmiths.ca/</a></li><li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/twosmiths.ca/?hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/twosmiths.ca/?hl=en</a></li></ul>

017 - Sandra Dunn - Blacksmith

From Kitchener, Ontario, Sandra Dunn is one of the owners of Two Smiths, a studio that creates contemporary forged metalwork. She regularly collaborates with builders and other artists on architectural projects, restoration and large scale public art. She’ll be one of 25 master blacksmiths at the Ypres 2016 International Blacksmithing Event in Belgium, where she will lead a team to develop one of 25 unique panels for a large World War I Cenotaph. What We Talked About  Sandra received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Waterloo University, but discovered blacksmithing while in a painting class with a friend who worked with a glass artist. That artist set up a forge to make lamps and after Sandra came in to try it, the thee set up a shop together. After a year at the shop, Sandra gave up her night job teaching art to focus on blacksmithing full time. She says she knew nothing and had no skills, but took two weekend courses and attended some ABANA conferences. “That’s really what enabled me to learn. Just the environment of people who are extremely open and friendly.” After forging full time for four years, Sandra joined with coppersmith Stephen White. They worked together 14 years, which allowed her to learn about how to work with copper. Dunn recently won a public art competition for a piece that’s displayed at the Waterloo Service Center (the city department that deals with sewers). She describes the piece as a section of “sewer pipe” suspended 12’ in the air with a column of copper “water” coming from the pipe and three fish swimming in and out of the water before it pours into a drain in the ground. Sandra explains how several grants have enabled her to travel, research and ultimately build several pieces, including a commercial door using a full sheet of copper. Dunn’s best advice on landing grants is to have really good photos of your work. She says her writing skills and English degree also come in handy. Sandra spent 12 years as a seasonal instructor at Haliburton College of Fine Arts in Ontario teaching Forge Fundamentals, Applied Design and History of Ornamental Ironwork, but ultimately left because of the 4-hour commute and the increasing time commitment. For this September’s Ypres International Blacksmithing event in Belgium, Sandra will appear as a master blacksmith. She will design and build one panel of 25 that will surround a 12-ton World War I Cenotaph (empty tomb) to be installed in a public park. Her panel design consists of several plant stalks leaning at angles and at different heights. Each one will have about 20 bronze discs as flower tops to represent the ID tags the soldiers wore. Each disc will be stamped with words from actual letters describing the soldier’s experiences, desires and fears. Sandra’s father is a veteran and her grandfather fought in WWI, so this piece has significant personal meaning to her. As for the techniques involved in creating the piece on the spot, she’s feeling confident. She will use traditional joinery techniques and try to keep it simple so it can be installed in the two day window.  Guest Links  www.twosmiths.ca  

From Kitchener, Ontario, Sandra Dunn is one of the owners of Two Smiths, a studio that creates contemporary forged metalwork. She regularly collaborates with builders and other artists on architectural projects, restoration and large scale public art. She’ll be one of 25 master blacksmiths at the Ypres 2016 International Blacksmithing Event in Belgium, where she will lead a team to develop one of 25 unique panels for a large World War I Cenotaph. What We Talked About <ul> <li>Sandra received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Waterloo University, but discovered blacksmithing while in a painting class with a friend who worked with a glass artist. That artist set up a forge to make lamps and after Sandra came in to try it, the thee set up a shop together.</li> <li>After a year at the shop, Sandra gave up her night job teaching art to focus on blacksmithing full time. She says she knew nothing and had no skills, but took two weekend courses and attended some ABANA conferences. “That’s really what enabled me to learn. Just the environment of people who are extremely open and friendly.”</li> <li>After forging full time for four years, Sandra joined with coppersmith Stephen White. They worked together 14 years, which allowed her to learn about how to work with copper.</li> <li>Dunn recently won a public art competition for a piece that’s displayed at the Waterloo Service Center (the city department that deals with sewers). She describes the piece as a section of “sewer pipe” suspended 12’ in the air with a column of copper “water” coming from the pipe and three fish swimming in and out of the water before it pours into a drain in the ground.</li> <li>Sandra explains how several grants have enabled her to travel, research and ultimately build several pieces, including a commercial door using a full sheet of copper.</li> <li>Dunn’s best advice on landing grants is to have really good photos of your work. She says her writing skills and English degree also come in handy.</li> <li>Sandra spent 12 years as a seasonal instructor at Haliburton College of Fine Arts in Ontario teaching Forge Fundamentals, Applied Design and History of Ornamental Ironwork, but ultimately left because of the 4-hour commute and the increasing time commitment.</li> <li>For this September’s Ypres International Blacksmithing event in Belgium, Sandra will appear as a master blacksmith. She will design and build one panel of 25 that will surround a 12-ton World War I Cenotaph (empty tomb) to be installed in a public park.</li> <li>Her panel design consists of several plant stalks leaning at angles and at different heights. Each one will have about 20 bronze discs as flower tops to represent the ID tags the soldiers wore. Each disc will be stamped with words from actual letters describing the soldier’s experiences, desires and fears.</li> <li>Sandra’s father is a veteran and her grandfather fought in WWI, so this piece has significant personal meaning to her.</li> <li>As for the techniques involved in creating the piece on the spot, she’s feeling confident. She will use traditional joinery techniques and try to keep it simple so it can be installed in the two day window.</li> </ul> Guest Links <ul> <li><a href="http://www.twosmiths.ca" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.twosmiths.ca</a> </li> </ul>

Episode #78 - Sandra Dunn "100 Bronze Discs for Ypres Panel"