Joel Sanderson

PORTALS LTD

CHICAGO

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JOEL SANDERSON

Joel Sanderson was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1969. In 1993 he worked for blacksmith Michael Bendele, an experience which introduced Sanderson to the principles of power forging. In 1996, he moved to Ancram, New York where he worked for Arrowsmith Forge.

Sanderson works primarily in iron (mild steel) but also forges copper, bronze, stainless steel, as well as other metals which lend themselves to the methods he uses. Each element is heated and then formed by hammering, pressing, bending, and sinking to achieve the intended effect. When the parts are joined together, the final form is polished, sanded and sealed to protect it in its intended environment. About half of his work is custom, site specific or architectural, designed and fitted to a specific location. He also makes sculptural pieces, functional and nonfunctional, for both interior and exterior use.

“When we look at a work of art, we see the object, but we also see what it means to us. This meaning is a compilation of conscious and subconscious memories which are assembled into a new idea, thought or experience. This intangible image, sometimes moving, sometimes stationary, sometimes pleasant, other times gruesome, is the quality I work to develop in my sculptures because this is what makes a work of art an experience. An experience is something happening and something happening is a journey, and a journey is made by things which are alive; in iron this can only happen because we are shown something which isn’t there. As the craftsman develops, he learns the true capabilities of the material. It is this love of what can be done with the material and the process used in manipulating it that results in the visible tracks from the artist’s tools. The difference between what the skilled craftsman knows of his medium and what the audience thinks it knows is the realm in which the seemingly impossible may be achieved.”

-Joel Sanderson

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