Roberto Giordani – Masterclass
Published on 13.03.17
Once a year, in addition to our Masters of Metal series, when key practitioners come to talk to the students about their practice, we invite a high profile, international metal artist to come and work with our students for a whole week. In the past we have worked with Jake James and Peat Oberon and
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Once a year, in addition to our Masters of Metal series, when key practitioners come to talk to the students about their practice, we invite a high profile, international metal artist to come and work with our students for a whole week. In the past we have worked with Jake James and Peat Oberon and this year we invited Roberto Giordani from Italy.
Roberto is on the international circuit, giving talks and presentations across the world. In the past, a number of our graduates have worked with him as journeymen, including Matt Garton and Jack Waygood, so Roberto knew about Hereford and the programme.
Roberto lives in the Romagna hills where, as well as having his own workshop, he runs the arts factory which hosts a number of taught sessions and masterclasses. Whenever I have seen Roberto before I have always been very impressed with his exquisite drawings. One of his mottos is everything that can be drawn can be moulded into metal.
I was delighted when he agreed to come to Hereford.
The students were at the forge for five full days, from, 8.00 am until 6.00 pm. Roberto came with a drawing of the piece of work that he would like to make with them.
In Roberto’s own Italian words,
The Iron Sprout
La scultura stilizzata rappresenta un ipotetico germoglio del metallo e della cultura in esso.Come quando si mette un seme nel terreno Il germoglio cresce e rompe il suo guscio. Il guscio del seme raffigura gli student del Hereford college. Che si distaccano progressivamente Col processo di crescita
La punta affusolata si dirige inclinata verso la luce del sole per un futuro senza fine.
Or, in English
The Iron Sprout
The stylized sculpture represents a hypothetical metal sprout and its culture, as when you plant a seed in the earth, the sprout grows and breaks out of its shell. The seed’s shell symbolizes the students of Hereford college who gradually detach themselves as they grow and develop.
The tapered tip tilts towards the sunlight for a future without end.
With broken English and gestural, hand movements he led the students through this exciting, week-long collaboration, with the iron sprout completed before the close of Friday.
Students learned so much through watching him and seeing the whole construction process and how he methodically sequenced the way it was planned, constructed and built.
Feedback included :
“Great to work with an established professional and see how he works and tackles large-scale projects.”
“That was a great week. Very inspiring!”
“A unique opportunity to meet and work with an internationally recognised blacksmith and so much fun to work together collectively, to create one sculpture together.”
“I also learned how to move from a set drawing into a scale drawing, and see how this translated into the final piece – it was really useful.”
“Thank you to Roberto and all the students who worked so hard to complete this piece within a week, it’s a real testament to your ability to work as a team and collaborate.”
