Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center

Fire girls at Penland....I think I want to be one when I grow up.

I leave for Penland in a week and have sketched out a couple of goals for myself for this intensive. That's a little unusual for me, but I have a sense that this will be the last experience of its kind for a few years and there are a few things I want to pay attention to. While the Penland experience is about exploring and trying new things, and I certainly intend to play hard, I also want to have a better sense of my own artistic focus when I get home. I know that rich things happen when you stay in one area for awhile, but I am constantly distracted by new techniques and new materials. (I got a new book this week on making cold connections with metals and I felt as furtive and guilty about it as if I'd just brought in some porn into the house!)

The Nokomis Theater following its extensive renovation. The grand re-opening on October 19, 1929, also featured the theater’s first “talkie” picture.
(courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society, Norton & Peel, location no. Norton & Peel 78503, Negative no. NP78503)

This is the guilty preface to the discovery this morning that a new arts center is underway just blocks from my home. The Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center will support activities around blacksmithing, glassworking, welding, jewelry and electronics/LED, art activities produced by heat, spark or flame. They are now in the process of buying a building on 38th and Chicago (in South Minneapolis) that was once the home to the Nokomis Theater and is now an auto repair shop. The center has a wonderful plan in place: one that welcomes the curious or emerging artist as well as one who is experienced but needs a devoted studio space to work. They'll also have a gallery space in the front for sales and shows.

The Nokomis Theater, January 2008, currently the home of Wreck Bros. Auto Body.
(photo byAnn Dee Bashyal)

Succumbing to my own version of ADD, I have taken classes over the years in silver work, soldering and using electronics to light up books and boxes. At Penland, I find myself sitting on my hands when the blacksmithed items come up for auction and had to think hard not to sign up for this summer's course in black-smithing my own garden gate (the return shipping would have been a nightmare!). If I was really true to my intent to stay focused in one area, I would not be writing about this, much less have already signed up on their mailing list. But as the moth is drawn to the flame (ironic choice of metaphors, isn't it?), I just can't help myself.

A rendering of the restored Nokomis Theater, home of the
Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center.
(Montana Scheff)