Science Hill Ironworks owner, Ian Thomsen became involved in metalworking, specifically blacksmithing, at the  young age of 1o years old.   This came about through participating in historical reenactments of the French & Indian and Revolutionary war time period with his father.  They did this as a fun activity together when he wasn’t involved in homeschool studies, or working together on the organic sheep dairy farm in South Central Pennsylvania where he grew up.  He apprenticed with a blacksmith at a local historical site and began falling in love with the craft.    At the age of 12 the Thomsen family made the decision to move to Asheboro North Carolina, as part of this transition, he was promised a space to setup his own blacksmith shop.   At 13 he found myself with all the necessary tools and a thirst for more knowledge and skill in the trade which continued to deepen.   At this time he began attending meetings of the triad area chapter of the NC ABANA (of which he is now Vice President), and forged (pun intended) many relationships with older blacksmiths who he would visit, call, and otherwise pester for information and critiques.   During his late teens, he applied for, and was granted a scholarship to attend and intensive training course at John C. Campbell folk school.  From there he has built Science Hill Ironworks into a business completing custom and production ironwork in Asheboro, NC where many of his pieces can be seen around town. He also teaches blacksmithing and welding at several arts centers and maker spaces in the central NC area such as Starworks NC.

 

Ian Thomsen Artist Statement:

Blacksmithing and metalworking is a very primordial experience.  Being able to harness the power of fire to not only  fundamentally change something that is seemingly unchangeable, but to completely manipulate it and alter its structure, is a very visceral and powerful experience for a human to have.    To apply your hands to a craft as old as the discovery of metal itself, and to create beautiful, as well as functional objects from it, captures the heart and soul of a craftsmen.  The historical importance of the community blacksmith was so great that there are recorded instances of early towns and settlements during the American Western expansion failing because their local smith died with no one to replace him.  The blacksmith was a respected member of the community, in no small part due to the fact that he was capable of making every tool needed to live and do your job, as well as all those needed to do his own, something few makers can claim; What a beautiful heritage to belong to.    It is for these reasons and many more that I look on my craft with passion in my heart. It is my deep desire to honor the heritage of forging and metalwork, while embracing the future of creating beautiful things.    In a world where we move towards a sanitized, convenience based, mass produced society, there lies great comfort in the act of getting in the shop, getting dirty, working with hot steel, and making something completely unique as an act of subtle defiance.  This is me, I am here, and I control this hardest of materials. 

“One day we will all cherish the memory of having blacksmiths on every corner”

-George Singleton