We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ellen Durkan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ellen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

My interest in blacksmithing started while i was in graduate school around 2008 ; while I was getting my MFA in fine arts sculpture. The program had a gas forge and i started paying around with heating metal and manipulating it. the malleability of the steel was exciting and i wanted to explore it further. I started welding up forged linear steel structures that encapsulated the body; the female figure has always been a big part of my process. I started building these dress cages and i placed nude women inside them, the dresses were complete with 12″-24″ hand made shoes. These earlier pieces were stationary. A professor at my college saw me trying to do some version of blacksmithing and suggested i apply for a summer assistant at Peters Valley Craft Center. At the time i had no idea what blacksmiths did , so i was pretty in the dark about everything. I applied with my portfolio of nude women in metal and was accepted as the shop assistant. I do remember years later talking to blacksmith coordinator at the time and he was like , well i think this girl is on to something , lets give her a chance. I arrived and was completely clueless but learned a lot in the next few weeks about blacksmithing. I was a bit intimidated by the first workshop because i didn’t have any background in smithing. It was also a tool making and power hammer forging class. Things i had no experience with and the instructor did a lot of math also not my strength. Once i started watching him move the metal it made sense; I was understanding the material a bit better. I practiced different techniques throughout the summer with a range of instructors and i started to see how i could use this material in my own way. After my first experience working in coal forges and around actual blacksmiths , i went back and dove fully into the forging. I got into the metal work from my art background, i didn’t have a traditional mentor so there was a lot of figuring out what worked and what didn’t. Having a mentor or blacksmithing community is definitely helpful if you are getting started you can find you closest Blacksmithing association or guild. Also talking workshops is a fantastic way to learn.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am an artist Blacksmith who works out of the Wilmington area and I teach at Delaware college of art & Design. I run my own business “iron maiden forge” and through that I travel to teach workshops and demonstrate at reginal and national Blacksmithing conferences. I have received the emerging artist grant, established artist grant as well as several opportunity grants and I am in the Delaware artist roster. I grew up in the Wilmington area and moved back to the area after I completed graduate school in 2009. Since then I have been building my shop, business and professional body of work while working other jobs to support myself. I create wearable “Forged Fashion” art that I present through a performance runway shows. I also create large-scale graphite drawings. I create work that addresses the human body in an empowering way, physically and emotionally allowing people to take ownership over their own body and self. I teach blacksmithing classes all over the country and get a range of different people in the classes, my classes focus on learning how to forge and manipulate the metal but also create some unique and beautiful for their body. I feel that the design of my workshops gives people permission to explore different techniques and frequently dive into the beautiful, emotional and often tap into traumatic experiences. I have found through years of teaching workshops as well at teaching college students, if you give people the tools and techniques combine with the opportunity to feel safe and dive deeper into their emotionally messy places , they surprise themselves and make powerful art.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I started teaching my “forged wearable art and body adornment” classes it was definitely and not a traditional class in the blacksmith community especially 15 years ago. There were still a lot of the old school people like “who’s this chick putting metal on naked women.” I didn’t let that deter me , I was young and had big ideas and needed to get the skills to create them. I wasn’t about to let the crunchy people dictate what was an acceptable outlet for my ideas. I kept working on developing my craft and sharing my ideas and process. I see a lot people, especially women of all ages take my workshops and they find the forging process and their class results super empowering. At the end of the workshops I photograph the students in the pieces and I really enjoy helping people tap into what makes them feel confident and strong.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Well at this point in my life i have worked various jobs from bartending to fabrication to make ends meet and pay off insane student loans. I can say that that making a surviving as an artist definitely takes a different level of stubbornness and problem solving. I don’t want to waste my time working other jobs that get me no where while hardly paying my bills and suck up all my time and energy. I am an adjunct professor which is unstable financially so i am always scheduling workshops and conferences that align with how i want to live my life. My currents goals are to continue making the work i enjoy to make while traveling to teach workshops. I want to push my skills creatively and share whatever information i have to offer. In my personal “forged fashion “work; i want to aim for a larger performance runway exhibition.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ellendurkan.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ironmaidenforge
• Facebook: http://m.www.facebook.com/ellen.durkan.7

Image Credits
@raptor fashion Photography( for the self image on the runway ) other 4 images Joe Hoddinott @phojoegraphy