Forging Replicas and Artifacts - Hereford Museum and Art Gallery

Blacksmithing today straddles the divide between a traditional craft and contemporary creative practice. Whilst the discipline has a long history, much of the making practices were unwritten and have become lost, the only tangible evidence being curios objects held in museums around the country.  These items are valuable because they are both repositories of craft skill, and lenses on past culture.

The Forging Replicas and Artifacts exhibition presents the practical culmination of a three-year project led by Dr John Grayson and second-year undergraduates at Hereford College of Arts.  Students analysed a series of iron and steel artefacts in the Hereford Museum Resource Centre to identify methods of making and created replicas to develop tacit craft knowledge. Finally, the relevance of defunct objects and skills were explored by making contemporary creative response. The exhibition present historical items—an eel spear, a set of sugar-nippers or a rush light for example—with contemporary art, craft and design objects.