Our Instructors

Mike Tanner, Resident Instructor

Mike has been blacksmithing for 20+ years and focuses on using the fundamentals of blacksmithing to do traditional work and beyond. He is the owner and operator of Yesteryear Forge and Yesteryear School of Blacksmithing. He is also very active in several local guilds, an  ABANA member, and is the founder of The Blacksmith Guild of Virginia. Mike focuses on Novice-Beginner classes to encourage good forging habits. These courses can be scheduled to fit your schedules at any time when there is no other class in session. Please contact the school for more details »

 

Mark Gardner, Guest Instructor

I have been interested in blacksmithing ever since my Dad took me to the Thresherman's Reunion in Pontiac, Ilinois. There I watched a blacksmith for hours. When I was about eleven my Dad bought me a small forge. I started making tools and shoes for my pony. I still have that forge, however, I do not use it very often. I am now doing artistic and functional ironwork that includes gates, candleholders, plates, lamps, tables, wall hangings, and may other items. I have served as President of Illinois Valley Blacksmith Association and also a member of the Illinois Artisans Program and have pieces of my work in their galleries.
website: www.floodplainforge.com

Mindy Gardner, Guest Instructor

The subject matter of my artwork has been greatly influenced by my childhood. I grew up in Southeastern Wisconsin (near Racine) on the shores of Lake Michigan and my father's farm about 20 miles inland. I was also luck enough to have spent some of my summers in Northern Wisconsin. I was enchanted by the lakes, ponds, and rivers and by the plant and animal life that lived in such an environment as I was by the woods. I spent much of my time exploring the outdoors either on foot or on my horse. I now live about a half mile south of Farmer City, Illinois between Trenkle Slough and Salt Creek. There's also a woods and 16 acres of prairie behind our house. This is now the source of inspiration for my work. I became interested in the use of the treadle hammer, chasing and repousse` after watching George Dixon at the 1997 Upper Midwest Regional Blacksmithing Conference in Pontiac, Illinois. In 1999 I reread my notes from that demonstration and began doing chasing and repousse` with the treadle hammer. I love to draw and this seemed to be an excellent method to transfer my art on paper to art on metal. I usually spent 10-12 hours a day, seven days a week working on the treadle hammer practicing making straight lines and giving depth to my work.
website: www.floodplainforge.com

Doug Merkel, Guest Instructor

Doug is a full-time blacksmith, and maintains a studio in the mountains of North Carolina. His specialty is in forging rendezvous, reenactment and 18th-century items. He also does commissions, artwork, and ironwork for the home builder and privatre collector. Doug is very active in several affiliate groups of the Artist Blacksmith's Association of North America (including The Blacksmith Guild of Virginia). Doug is also a former member of the ABANA board of directors. He conducts demonstrations and classes for groups all over the United States.

 

 

 

 

Elmer Roush, Guest Instructor

Elmer Roush has been operating a full time blacksmithing business since 1987. His work includes specialized tools, 18th century style hardware, traditional and contemporary architectural work and a production line of candle holders, letter openers and fireplace tools. Elmer began blacksmithing in 1970 and was self-taught for six years, after which he attended workshops at Arrowmont School of Crafts, Haystack School of Crafts and the John C. Campbell Folk School.  He has also studied blacksmithing in what was Czechoslovakia under Master smith Vaclav Jaros. Elmer has taught blacksmithing at a number of schools including Peters Valley, Touchstone, Appalachian Center for Crafts, and the John C. Campbell Folk School. He assisted in setting up the Cearta Inneona blacksmithing school in Ireland in 1999 and was head instructor and acting CEO for the school for a year. Elmer has demonstrated widely at local and state blacksmithing conferences across America and was invited to teach and demonstrate at the yearly blacksmiths’ gathering near Brisbane in Australia in 2001. He was a studio monitor at the Haystack School of Crafts and a resident artist at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina for eight years up to 2002.
website: www.elmerroush.com

Alwin Wagener, Guest Instructor

I started blacksmithing in 1998. My training began by working for a decorative ironwork business. Over my four and a half years there I learned the skills of a blacksmith. Since then I have developed my own style and designs. Influenced primarily by both nature and mythology and with a strong background in the history of ironwork, I create beautiful, hand-forged art. My work is used functionally in the home or office and for the purely aesthetic enrichment of an environment. website: www.wagenerforge.com

BA in Philosophy from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Resident blacksmith at Warren Wilson College from 2003 to the present.

Demonstrator for the Michaelmas Festival on the Biltmore Estate in 2003.

Member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild since 2004

Weekly blacksmithing demonstrator at the Biltmore Estate’s Historic Horse Barn in 2004

Demonstrator for the 2004 NC statewide Artist Blacksmithing Association of North America (NCABANA) conference.

Demonstrator for the Rocky Mount, TN ABANA organization in 2004.

Frequent demonstrator at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway from March, 2005 to the present.

Featured Demonstrator at the Craft Show of the Southern Highland’s July and October show in 2005 at the Asheville Civic Center.

Demonstrator at the 2005 Mountain Heritage Festival in Sylva, NC.

Demonstrator at the Arts and Crafts Conference which took place at the Grove Park Inn in February 2006.

Yearly instructor at the John C. Campbell Folk School.

Brian Brazeal, Guest Instructor

Brian Brazeal began rediscovering traditional blacksmithing as a horseshoer over 25 years ago. Brian gave up shoeing to practice traditional forging full time traveling in the US and Europe and was fortunate to have been exposed to some well known smiths like, Professor Alfred Habermann, his son Alfred Jr. and his sons Josef and David and Alfred's daughter Christine. as well as , Tom Clark, Bob Patrick, Bill Bostas, Darrell Nelson, Terry Carson and Tsur Sadan to name a few. Brian now continues to share and promote the techniques of this lost craft in an effort to bring blacksmithing back to the world by demonstrating and sharing his practical experience and vast forging information in clinics and workshops for all skill levels.Brian's brother Ed Brazeal, also a good smith and powerful striker, often traveled and worked with Brian throughout the years and they are well known as the Brazeal Brothers. Together they offer hand forged hammer making clinics.
website: www.myspace.com/brazealbrothers   

Mark Aspery, Guest Instructor

I started to forge metal in the metalwork room of my high school in the UK in 1974, it was my third year at high school. I developed a great passion for the work, not as one would expect, out of an artistic bent, but out of a love of physically making the steel move. The ability to shape metals at heat, with their plastic qualities fascinated me. Upon leaving high school I started as a blacksmith with Charles Watts and Sons, Rugby, UK.

It was during this time that I found out that making metal move and controlling the movement are two very separate skills. Not then calling myself an artist, I dabbled in natural forms as I continued with traditional designs. I enjoy the Art Nouveau and the Craftsman styles.

 

As time went on I found myself working for other smiths that had developed a style that was very organic in design, come stylized, some literal. At this time I was exposed to nonferrous metals, such as bronze and copper.

 

My own style now is one of a semi-literal, flowing representation of the natural world. I prefer to use traditional methods of joinery in my commissions, where the design and budget allows.

 

Mark is also the author of the widely renowned book: “Mastering the Fundamentals of Blacksmithing”. He is highly sought out all over the country to teach and demonstrate his skills with his natural skill at instructing.
website: www.markaspery.net

 

David Tucciarone, Guest Instructor

David Tucciarone first learned about steel as a steel plate fitter in a shipyard. After participating in a variety of conferences and courses, he opened Sunrise Forge, a full-time blacksmith shop in 1992. David specializes in making decorative ironwork for the home and garden and is a frequent John C. Campbell Folk School instructor. David has taken classes from some of the blacksmith greats including Francis Whitaker. He is also very active in his local blacksmithing organization as the former Vice President of Education and hosting, demonstrating, and teaching at several group meetings a year. Visit his website: www.storyandforge.com for more information on him and his shop.

Jerry Darnell, Guest Instructor

Jerry Darnell resides in Seagrove, North Carolina, has been a blacksmith for 38 years and operates his own commercial shop that produces all types of ironwork from traditional gates and railing to contemporary art pieces. He has demonstrated for the Alabama conference, Indiana Blacksmiths, the Quad State Round-up, the Southeastern Regional conference, and the national ABANA conference, and several other groups all over the country. He has taught at the John C. Campbell Folk School, Touchstone School of Crafts, and the Ozark School of Blacksmithing. Jerry specializes 18th-century ironwork. Being a retired high school teacher his natural talent of teaching makes his classes a really enjoyable and easy atmosphere to learn in while still pushing the limits of your ability to a new level. Jerry is one of the most sought after demonstrators and teachers in the United States!

Kim Thomas, Guest Instructor

Kim Thomas started blacksmithing in 1985 spurred on by the desire to make muzzle loading long rifle's using the traditional methods used 200 years ago. Encouraged and guided by other smiths he started out making simple items for trade at rendezvous'.
 
Kim then joined the Artist-Blacksmiths’ Association of North America (ABANA) where he met and learned from master smiths from around the world. It’s here he learned the art of forging Damascus, or pattern welded steel. His passion for working with metal has lead him into all forms of blacksmithing such as knife making, ornamental, repousse’, medieval, early American, and even contemporary.
 
Kim Thomas’s work has appeared in Back Woodsman, Blade, Anvils Ring, and Knives 95, 96, 97, 98 & 99.
 
In 1995 he was chosen as one of the top 200 craftsmen in the United States by Early American Life and was featured in their August issue. He was chosen again in 1997 by Early American Homes. And again in 2005, 2007 and 2009 by Early American Life
 
He demonstrated several years at the Cuyahoga Valley Folk Festival in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
 
His work has been displayed at the Wayne Center for the Arts.
 
In 1996 Kim’s video FORGING DAMASCUS was chosen by his peers as the BEST INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO   at the biennial conference of the Artist-Blacksmiths’ Association of North America. (ABANA)
 
He taught Blacksmithing classes for several years at The Log Cabin Sports shop and has taught the last three years at Touchstone Center for Crafts in Pennsylvania.
 
Recently Kim's work has turned to restorations of original masterwork. Most notably the works of the Master of Ornamental Iron Samuel Yellin of Philadelphia