After slowing getting past my jet lag, and waking up to snow on the roofs of Pliezhausen, I managed to make it into the forge this morning. I started planning out a small maquette of the sculpture I will be forging at Tobiashammer next week. The forging symposium at Tobiashammer is centered around creating sculptures which commemorate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door (spoiler alert: he never actually nailed them to the door, just mailed them off to the bishop). There are big events planned all over Germany next year for the anniversary, and as part of the festivities the six sculptures will be placed along a path that Luther traveled. M
The Eurasian Blue Tit © Francis C. Franklin I started the day with an early morning walk down to the Neckar River, just south of Pliezhausen. The area around the river is a protected natural area surrounded by farm land, and only a 10 minute walk from town. I felt like an explorer in a new land, as all the abundant birds were completely new to me. While there were a number of birds I just couldn't identify, I did manage to narrow down 25 unique species, all new to my life list, by winnowing them down to similar species groups as I would find in North America. Highlights form the trip included Red Kites, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Coal Tits and my favorite of the day, the Yellowhammer. It was
Sign outside Atelier Zimmermann, forged by Paul Zimmermann, with gold leaf highlight. I've been remiss in keeping the blog updated during my trip to Germany. Over the next few days I plan to remedy that. I arrived today (Sat.) in Stuttgart, Germany and was picked up at the airport by my host, master blacksmith Heiner Zimmermann (www.heinerzimmermann.de/en/). Heiner took me back to his home in the town of Pliezhausen, which is located in the state of Baden-Wurttemburg in southwestern Germany. Pliezhausen is located in the cultural area of Germany called Swabia, which has its own unique accent, cultural traditions and food culture. Door handle at Atelier Zimmermann. Heiner lives in a 400 year
I'm headed over to Germany for two weeks, followed by Spain for a week. I will be participating in a blacksmithing symposium hosted at the industrial forge Tobiashammer. I have been invited to participate by Heiner Zimmermann. He and I, along with 3 other artists, will each be making a sculpture to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther publishing his 95 thesis. The forge features water-driven drop hammers that we will be using to forge the sculptures. Below is a short video of the forge. The final week I will be traveling to Bilbao and Barcelona, Spain. In Bilbao I plan to tour the works of Basque artist-blacksmith and sculptor Eduardo Chillida. In Barcelona, my eyes will be foc
