How is the arts & crafts industry in the US withstanding the recession of 2009? Here's a glimpse at the responses of four artists given during the 2009 CenterFest held in Durham, NC. The short film was created by Enrique Vega for a Vox Populi Interview assignment in his "Directing Your Documentary: Making Choices" video course taken at Duke University Center for Documentary Studies.

I'd love to hear how those of you on ArtMetal are withstanding the recession/depression of 2009. What are you doing to continue to make a living from your metal art?

 BTW, our very own Kimberli Matin is one of the interviewees... tell me what you think.

Nicolas Monterroso Ramos, a friend of mine from Lima, Peru recently won first prize and 3,000 sols from Aceros Arequipas Regional Contest for best designed and forged decorative table. He sent me a link to his flicker web site which shows many of the processes used in making his wrought iron table. Nicolas has been taking the workshops I have given in the past in Peru. Not to say that I taught him everything he knows, because Nicolas's enthusiasm for the craft of blacksmithing has taken him to many different resources on the web to learn what he knows. Nicolas would be a part of our ArtMetal community, but has not posted because he doesn't speak English.

I recently finished my second blacksmithing seminar in Peru and wanted to share with you a video and photo album showing footage from the various workshops in Huancayo, Lima, and Piura. The video is also an educational video for beginning blacksmiths. It explains the processes I used to make the Nazca Lines Book Ends.

This is a brief video of the completed Marsi chandelier. It shows the fiber optic lighting and some of the programmed modes included with the initial setup. Note that the color wheel is an LED main light which has the capabilities of displaying millions of colors.

As some of you know, I recently returned from Peru where I gave a series of workshops/seminars to metalworkers in Lima. I had a great opportunity to take some personal time after the workshops to visit the sacred site of Machu Pichu - an Inca ruin. I've always had a great desire to learn more about ancient civilizations, especially Mesoamerican civilizations. Somehow, I've always thought that they had knowledge of this reality which we, in our egocentric material world, do not realize we have.

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