MYTHOLOGY
The Millennium Project
...was a site specific sculpture/performance scheduled to take place on December 31, 1999 at midnight. The plan involved the installation of a furnace of wood and stone from which molten iron will be generated and delivered via a timber formed trough to the throwing arm of a catapult known as a trebuchet from which it will be launched into the North Sea. In the words of the author: "This event celebrates the end of the age of iron and the sometimes traumatic transition to a new, unascertained age..".
Did it happened? We don't know, but it was a great idea.. E-mail the author, Professor George Beasley at the Georgia State University School of Art and Design or take a look at his web site: The Millennium Project
We first encounter the Blacksmith in Greek mythology as Hephaestus band then in Roman mythology as Vulcan. These figures established the Blacksmith and his art as magical characters with special powers to tame and control the hardest and most useful metal then known. An impression that endures, in some part, to the present day.
The ability to forge this hard metal by changing its mechanical characteristics put the Blacksmith on the same level with the doctors and astrologers. Their importance to humanity and affinity with the Gods was necessary to ensure the healing of their patients.
The Blacksmith needed the same affinity enabling the metal to be blessed and therefore not to break in battle. This requirement was hardly surprising when you consider the importance of a sword remaining strong during close combat. So was born the image of the blacksmith as a man, particular in his ways, strong and sometimes brusque, but capable of winning the fight. His materials, rough and unworkable at the beginning, became so improved by him that the Gods allowed him to over indulge himself with wine. Not so different after all from their powerful father figure, Hephaestus (Vulcan), the husband of the beautiful Aphrodite (Venus), Gods of the Earth's interior and respected by Zeus (Jupiter), father of the Gods. The ancient Romans, more practical and less dreamy than the Greeks, yet from which culture they had absorbed so much, transformed and rationalized the figure of the Blacksmith.
LITERATURE/CATALOGUES
THE ARCHITECT'S CORNER - Useful Instruments for professionals
"It's the Bible of Wrought Iron!" says our friends from Industria Italiana Arteferro!. "The Golden Age of Ironwork" goes back to the early '30s and to the work of Samuel Yellin, the greatest blacksmith ever! Click here for more informations
Metal: Design & Fabrication provides architects and designers with basic information on designing, detailing, and specifying metalwork for various applications. By better understanding metalwork, you can think about how the work might be better built while still in the design stage. Click here for more informations.
* Gold for the mistress, silver for the maid - Copper for the craftsman, cunning at his trade. 'Good' said the Baron, sitting in his hall, 'But iron - cold iron - is master of them all'. -Rewards and Fairies Rudyard Kiplin
