First I am a craftsman, and sometimes art emerges from my craft. Iron is a unique material that possesses the ability to maintain structures in the community; to provide items for the handy person, items to support the homeplace, and visual forms to reflect our natural and spiritual environment.
I am unable to be an artist all of the time, but I can craft things forever. I want people to handle the tools and trinkets. I want my work to support things they find beauty and purpose in. How the customer interprets my concepts can be different than mine, and this is good. I then experience a little of them.
Ed Small has been blacksmithing for 35 years, first attending farrier school after the military. Having a circle of artist friends that influenced him visually and creatively, he felt a need for personally using this difficult iron material.
