The Tradition/Innovation: American Masterpieces of Southern Craft & Traditional Art will be kicking off a nine state exhibition throughout 2010 starting with its grand opening on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at the Atlanta History Center. The reason I am mentioning this is because one of my functional art pieces, "Black Electra" console table is part of the exhibition.

You can see my artist page by following this link. However, I did want to mention that the Southern Arts Federation put together a really good educational section for educators teaching the metals media. There are links to quite a few different web resources including a section on my own personal site. Here's what they are saying in part:

3. If you cannot visit a shop, bring a shop into your classroom. Enrique Vega’s website has a step by step documentary of the manufacture of his wrought iron tables as well as other forged works of art, from preliminary sketch to the finished piece in his client’s home.

This site is useful for discussing the meaning of “commissioned work” as well as for taking students through both the technical and artistic processes of his work. It is also an excellent site to use to discuss the impact on the Internet on art and artists and e-commerce in the arts.

Vega also has a number of podcasts on his website with video and audio documentaries of his work. They take a while to load but are outstanding.

You can compare and contrast both the artistic and technical processes Vega uses with the artistic and technical process presented in the Metals Gallery power point, Doug Harling, Goldsmith.

4. Sketch Design – HS Vega begins his work by sketching his concept of the finished piece. View some of his sketches.

After your students view the sketches, lead a discussion about the importance of sketching to many artists in different media.

There is much more information for educators and some of you folks here at ArtMetal may find this page very useful.

Here's the tour schedule for those interested in seeing the exhibition: