A cacophony of hammering and a roaring forge bounce off the high metal walls of a small warehouse in Garden City, Idaho. Bouquets of steel scraps line the edges of the space. Anvils, clamps and tongs decorate each surface. The art studio of Idaho blacksmith Susan Madacsi closely resembles her blue collar industrial workshop neighbors. She turns down a blaring radio to tour the place where she turns out large-scale public art sculptures.
“My shop is actually really simple. I have just really basic stuff,” said Madacsi. “I have my power hammer and then I have anvils, different sizes and heights. I have my forge that heats the metal.”
Some of her work hangs in the studio: rectangular, circular, and cloud-like arrangements of three and four-inch colorful metal discs, black steely clusters of flowers and leaves, and organic, undulating feathers, also forged steel.
“A lot of the work that I make … It's three dimensional, but it's two dimensional because it hangs on the wall and it's almost like a sculptural painting.”
She pounds texture into the metal discs and then welds them into larger pieces to be hung in spaces like the Saint Alphonsus Medical Center lobby in Nampa and at Micron Technology in Boise. Madacsi was also commissioned to forge art to be displayed on the Lardo Bridge in McCall. The project involved a long public process in addition to the fabrication and installation of the work.
Repetitive and meticulous, each piece requires careful attention to the qualities of the metal, then brute strength to shape it. But Madacsi adds whimsy and fun to a very technical process.
“I am not a perfectionist and you can see that in my work. I like to celebrate things that aren't absolutely right.”
She’s learned over her 20 years in the craft how the material acts at different temperatures, what it looks like, the color and the sound — all referred to as metallurgy. This science dates back to the late Paleolithic period, 40,000 BC. The tradition has been passed down through apprenticeships and a standard of functionality that Madacsi appreciates but has also broken away from.
“I wanted my work to look different and I wanted it to look distinctly like something that was mine.”
Madacsi first learned about blacksmithing during a welding class at a community college where she sought more experience in welding after earning her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in sculpture from Boise State University.
“I took welding at the community college and it was scheduled during the same time that they were teaching a blacksmithing class. And they had these big forges roaring and students running around with hot metal and hammering on anvils.”
Her curiosity brought her to ask one of the blacksmithing students what they were doing.
“I asked this guy, ‘So what is this?’ And he's like, ‘Oh, this is a blacksmithing class,’” said Madacsi, “And my reaction was like, ‘What? People still do that?’”
The next semester Madacsi joined the blacksmithing class and fell in love with the craft. She worked at an architectural forge where she earned her chops and then under several mentors, each imparting their technical knowledge and style. When it was time to strike out on her own, it took time for their influence to fade and her own style to emerge.
Madacsi pondered and played for a year on her own, taking inspiration from her childhood and nature walks.
“My grandmother was creative and she was a painter. I would categorize her more in the sort of self-taught type of painter,” said Madacsi, who painted alongside her grandmother as a child.
“Her work was very primitive, She just had this urge to be creative. And I just love that spirit.”
Madacsi adopted a similar attitude. She would do what made her happy and let that be her north star. On a visit to New York City, she went to the Guggenheim to see the work of welder artist David Smith and was surprised to discover he also created forged sculpture. She was impressed by a smaller part of his body of work in which he created relief sketches of found objects using spray paint. A fan of graffiti art herself, the spark had ignited — she returned to her own studio with new courage to stretch outside of the traditional blackness of steel.
“I just kind of had this epiphany,” said Madacsi. “I went back to the studio and I was like, you know, I love color, so why not? And first I was kind of timid and shy with it, and I just started getting more courage and just started playing more with it.”
Now Madacsi is known in the blacksmithing world and the art world for her colorful, geometric forged pieces. She straddles two worlds, the technical craft and the aesthetic art scene where she makes her living. She still attends blacksmithing trade shows where she acquires many of her tools, handmade by others in the profession. A personal memory and a friendship is attached to each of her tools .
She holds a pair of tongs to remove what’s becoming a feather from the red-hot forge.
“Basically, these are extensions of my hands and my fingers. Over the years and after forging like thousands and thousands and thousands of these things, I'm very dexterous with these and I can very easily move things around. [I] kind of feel like a crab or something.”Susan Madacsi
Madacsi stands out in the large-scale public art world. Among many with large industrial workshops, teams of fabricators and even outsourcing to factories, she continues to make everything by hand, in her small warehouse and with her modest collection of power and hand tools.
“I want people to know that there was a person that got their hands dirty and I want the human quality to be the focus of the work,” said Madacsi. “I want people to be able to walk up to it and touch it and you can feel all the textures that I forged into the material.”
She prizes the human connection conjured by her work and other handmade crafted pieces.
“There's something really beautiful about a handmade object. It's very under the surface, but people know,” said Madacsi. “They look at it and they know that it's different. It's made by hand and it's made by a craftsperson, somebody who has dedicated their life to mastering the material.”
The music in this story was composed by Jared Arave.
This series is produced in partnership with the Idaho Commission on the Arts’ Folk and Traditional Arts Program, with funding support from Jennifer Dickey and Andy Huang, Dr. Suzanne Allen, MD and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Below is the full transcript of the audio story:
A lot of the work that I make. It's three dimensional, but it's two dimensional because it hangs on the wall and it's almost like a sculptural painting. I am not a perfectionist and you can see that in my work. I like to celebrate things that aren't absolutely right. Turn this on. My name is Susan Madacsi, and I'm an artist Blacksmith. I have a studio in Garden City, Idaho.
My shop is actually really simple. I have just really basic stuff. I have my power hammer and then I have anvils, different sizes and heights. I have my forge that heats the metal. You can tell what temperature it is by the color of the metal. So right now, let me look. It's what I would call a dull orange. So it's okay to forge the mastery of the craft. Part of it is learning about the metallurgy and the way the material acts at different temperatures.
I was older when I first started.
I had a degree in sculpture from Boise State, and then I wanted to build a sculpture, but I didn't know how to weld, so I took welding at the community college and it was scheduled during the same time that they were teaching a blacksmithing class. And they had these big forges roaring and students running around with hot metal and hammering on anvils. And and I asked this guy, I'm like, So what is this? And he's like, Oh, this is a blacksmithing class.
And my reaction was like, What? People still do that? I signed up for the next session and I just really fell in love with it,
My grandmother was creative and she was a painter. I would categorize her more in the sort of self-taught type of painter. Her work was very primitive, She just had this urge to be creative. And I just love that spirit.
Another thing that I was very interested in when I was younger was graffiti art and of course, all the color. You know, I just was really drawn to color. Just kind of had the impression that forged metalwork always had to be black or dark. It just kind of had this epiphany. And so I went back to the studio and I was like, you know, I love color, so why not? And first I was kind of timid and shy with it, and I just started getting more courage and just started playing more with it . So after all these years, this is sort of where it's become part of my aesthetic and also what my work is known for.
I wanted my work to look different and I wanted it to look distinctly like something that was mine. So I'll have three different textures on the piece that's on the bottom. This will have one texture, this will have two and this will have three. And you can see I'm losing this heat fast, so I'm going to get to it. And then I have all my discs. And the disks are what I forged medallions from. They're about 3/8 of an inch thick. You start to notice things like the sound of the metal when you hit it. So when it's in that those red colors, it's very soft. So you get this more of a kind of a it's like a thud, kind of dense, rich sound. And then as it cools off and those cooler temperatures and it becomes more it goes from a bright, bright orange and it just walks down into that dull red to like that dark steel color. It's a brighter sound. This is called a blacksmith's vice or a leg vice, so I can clamp this in here and tighten it up and then I can get a hammer.
You can really wail on it. And the leg of the vise takes a lot of that vibration down to the floor.
this is a big piece of equipment and it's hand forged. It's just beautiful. These are tongs. Obviously, the metal is very hot. I'm working with round discs that are about an eighth of an inch thick. Think of like barbecue tongs. And there are different shapes. Every shape has a different purpose. Basically, these are extensions of my hands and my fingers over the years. And after forging like thousands of thousands and thousands of these things, I'm very dexterous with these and I can very easily move things around, kind of feel like a crab or something.
One thing that separates my work from other public work is that everything I do is by hand. I want people to know that there was a person that got their hands dirty and I want the human quality to be the focus of the work. I want people to be able to walk up to it and touch it. And you can feel all the textures that I forged into the material. Because there's a connection there. There's something really beautiful about a handmade object. It's very under the surface, but people know. They look at it and they know that it's different. It's made by hand and it's made by a craftsperson, somebody who has dedicated their life to mastering the material.