Blacksmithing at ESSA

This weekend we had a blacksmithing class at ESSA, taught by a former ESSA blacksmithing student Bert Jones. He's become both an expert in the craft, and also an expert in teaching the craft, so we can see how one can support others and build strength and intelligence in a community. The class was full with some experienced and some beginning blacksmiths.

As one of the founders of ESSA, I feel a sense of pride to see others learning and growing in the arts, whether it's in painting and design, or in the blacksmith shop.

In my own home shop, I'm getting materials ready to make some walnut boxes to test the Leigh box joint and hive jig for Fine Woodworking.

Ask yourself, what the character of our communities would become if we were all to learn by doing real things? Students would care about what they were learning, because the things they were learning would be of value to their communities. The schools might become places of deep community engagement rather than being sequestered from being sequestered at the sidelines.

Make, fix, create, and assist in the transformation of American Education.