Registration | Participate | Keynote Artists | Schedule

September 9-11, 2022

Festival of Fire celebrates the transformative nature of fire.

This annual collaborative event is a weekend-long exploration of the productive and performative aspects of fire in making art.

The exciting schedule includes hands-on workshops, artist talks, demonstrations, performances, and exhibitions, all centered around fire. Come together to share techniques, ideas, and resources in iron casting, wood fired ceramics, glass blowing, blacksmithing, and more. Tours, gallery showings, and on-site concessions will complete the festival atmosphere and make it fun for the entire family.

Don’t miss the spectacle and wonder of the Festival of Fire!

2022 Keynote Artists:

Kay Dartt
Iron Casting

JD Smith
Blacksmithing

Brandon Smith
Glassblowing

Registration

Registration:

Friday September 9 - Sunday September 11
Registration is free/sliding scale and grants access to the keynote addresses.

Camping is available for $40 per night. Meals are not included. There will be 3 food trucks on site all 3 days for participants to purchase food.

If you are registering a group or have any questions, please email us at info@salemartworks.org.

Volunteer

We have a limited number of full and partial subsidized volunteer positions available for participants who want to work in exchange for registration. Apply now!

Participate

IRON POUR
BRING OR MAKE MOLDS

The iron department offers an artist talk and production pour. Friday evening showcases our iron keynote artist with an artist talk. Saturday we’ll have a production iron pour all day where participants are invited to bring molds to have cast in metal. The production Iron Pour is a chance for teams from across the nation to come together for a hands on opportunity to share techniques, ideas, and resources in iron casting. Participants spend the weekend working in groups to prepare and pour molds, furnace, and pour site.

SCRATCH BLOCK WORKSHOP

Participants will have the opportunity to make their very own cast iron tile sand mold in this drop in workshop!

Hand off your mold to our team to pour in iron and once the pour is over we will clean up the tile for you to take home!

MAKING PATTERNED DAMASCUS STEEL WORKSHOP

In this two-day blacksmithing workshop, you will learn how to make patterned Damascus steel without flux, or other substances. Time permitting, we may forge a blade from the materials we will construct.

GLASS SCULPTING, "PLAN BIG, WORK SMALL"

In this two-day glassblowing/sculpting workshop, students will meet to discuss and plan a group piece(s) with the instructor. We will use the natural environment around us as inspiration for our subject matter.

Students will work together to plan a larger finished piece to be built from many small components. We will implement both blowing and sculpting techniques, garage working, and group assemblage practices. This class will focus heavily on team planning and execution.

Meet our 2022 Keynote Artists

Kay Dartt

Foundry

Kay Dartt is a sculptor with an interdisciplinary practice that combines craft, design, engineering, and philosophy. The work she makes reflects how consumer behavior in western cultures is forcing an imbalance between the natural, artificial and virtual environments we interact with. Her aesthetics synthesizes biomorphic forms, consumer language and parametric design elements. Through this work she challenges cultural philosophies of living by creating functional sculptures that exaggerate issues of environmental imbalance.

No material or processes is restricted in Kay’s practice, but she is always engaged with metal casting. This passion for craft is fueled by the intrinsic nature of iron and engagement with the iron casting community. Currently she uses her practice to foster socially minded innovators and collaboratively fabricate objects that generate dialogue about current issues.

J.D. Smith

Blacksmithing

My work and study as a Damascus steel bladesmith has taken me on an odyssey that has put me in intimate contact with many diverse craft and science disciplines. These include design, small and fine metal skills, smithing, material science, and metallurgy.

For me, the major appeal of this material is the opportunity to make the very steel itself a vibrant and expressive medium that stands on its own aesthetic merits.

I use concepts that are both ancient and contemporary to craft the patterns in steel you see exhibited here. The utmost in discipline and patience is required to produce the highest quality pattern welded steel. No compromises in production techniques can be made at any time, as the beauty of the result largely resides in its perfection. Please enjoy these, some of the best examples of my work.

An often asked question is whether or not I craft all aspects of the work you see here. The answer of course is yes. If I personally cannot do a thing, it does not go on the piece; it is as simple as that. This naturally affords me an opportunity to master a great many skills, and that ultimately is the fun of it all.

Brandon Smith

Glassblowing

Brandon Guy Smith is a glass artist, metal worker and educator from Factoryville Pennsylvania.

He holds a BFA in glass and ceramics from Tyler school of Art, and his MFA in glass from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Brandon has worked as a glass maker for numerous independent artists and institutions such as the Corning Museum of Glass and Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center. He was also the assistant director of the Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, a museum technician for the Southern Illinois University Museum and the Exhibition Technician for the Denver Botanic Gardens.

Brandon is a two time Niche award winner, a windgate recipient and has work in multiple private collections as well as in the Museum of American Glass in Southern NJ.

Brandon currently runs the glass studio at Keystone College in La Plume Pennsylvania, while also working as an independent artist and tool maker.

Schedule