Ep 115 Ellen Durkan "Forged Fashion"

BlacksmitHER Radio

This is week I have a returning guest, Ellen Durkan, from Delaware. She’s an incredibly talented artist blacksmith that has a line of metal dresses called Forged Fashion. She is also an adjunct professor at the Delaware College of Art and Design. She will be a demonstrator at the upcoming CBA Spring Conference and that also happens to be the sponsor for today’s episode. This year is their 40th anniversary, so it’s a big event and Dennis Dusek and his conference crew have been diligently planning for the past 6 months. They have a talented line up of demonstrators, Zeevik Gottlieb, Lynda Metcalfe, Ellen Durkan, Haley Woodword, Colby Brinkman, David Lisch. The dates are April 12th through the 14th and if you register before March 22nd the price is $165 for all 3 days. The venue will be the Eldorado County Fairgrounds in Placerville, California.

To register, head over to www.calsmith.org and click on the events tab for the online conference registration button.

What We Talked About

• Ellen is teaching drawing, 3D design and sculpture as an adjunct professor at the Delaware College of Art and Design.
• Besides teaching at the college, she is preparing for a performance style runway show of her iron fashion dresses in November. She is planning on having 15 to 20 models as well as a few aerial performers.
• Ellen tells us about her photo shoots with a professional photographer who is her friend, Joe, and how they come up with ideas for photographing Ellen’s iron fashion pieces.
• Ellen is teaching and demonstrating more for 2018, she’ll be in California, New Jersey, Virginia, New York and Buenos Aires Argentina.
• Ellen has an exhibition of her large-scale drawings that will be held at the Delaware Art Museum
• Also, she was recently awarded a $6000 art grant to help her put on her forged fashion runway show in November. The grant came from the Delaware Division of the Arts.

Guest Links

• Ellen’s website - http://www.ellendurkan.com/
• Peter’s Valley workshop - http://www.petersvalleyworkshops.bigcartel.com/product/fitting-forming-wearable-bustiers-and-chest-pieces
• Banton-Smith Center for Blacksmith and Metal Arts facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/BantonSmithCenter/
• Rochester Arc and Flame Center - https://www.rocafc.com/collections/blacksmithing-technique-blacksmithing/products/blacksmithing-workshop-5-days-with-ellen-durkan