Andrew Smith

My approach to teaching is to be clear, demonstrate a thorough technical skill base, encourage people to have the confidence to go further and, above all, have fun.

I demonstrate a range of fundamental Ironwork techniques and processes with a very strong hands-on emphasis - across my courses students will learn how to manipulate steel, both hot forged and fabricated.

Hands-on technical skills are, of course, high on most people's lists, and rightly so - an aspect of this is the ability to use those skills to a purpose, consequently the opportunity for exploring techniques towards a personal project is a significant aspect of the creative courses I teach.

Returning students will extend their technical exploration and proficiency together with one-to-one practical guidance, often taking personal projects in quite individual directions - over the years I have seen students realise a huge variety of personal projects.

Of course underpinning all of the above there is always the sheer enjoyment of something unique and exciting.

Technical processes - hot forging (use of the fire, drawing down various tapers, splitting, bending, upsetting, punching, twisting, working with a striker, etc.), power hammer work, fabrication, oxy-acetylene and oxy-propane cutting and heating, MIG and ARC welding, use of mechanical processes - mechanical saw, pillar drill, power tools such as angle grinders, small hand tools, etc..

Across the courses I run students engage with mild steel, stainless steel and sometimes specialist steels, bronze, copper, etc. A slide lecture of architectural and other commissions can often be a useful catalyst for personal projects.

I structure courses around group demonstration and individual tuition - consequently the majority of time is spent in practical activity by the student.

Where would one start ? I find that, usually, any current preoccupations will tend to colour one's perception of almost anything - one sees issues, possibilities and solutions in the most unexpected places.

I would say that I am interested in ornament, spatial depiction, natural form, space, mass, energy and the potential of tools.

Generally speaking I have an interest in European and Middle Eastern architecture, and have, more specifically, recurrently travelled to document and photograph cities such as Isfahan and Shiraz.

Apropos the initial question: I think that inspiration cannot be engineered or created, it can only be supported and nurtured - consequently I have to, in the end, trust in a visit from the Muse.....

All over, really - for example : Ecclesiastical Screen for the College of St. George, Windsor Castle; Suspended Sculpture for The Russell-Cotes Museum, Bournemouth; Sculptural Finials for the Emslie-Horniman Pleasance Gardens, Ladbroke Grove, London; Pumping Station and Sculptural Canopy for the Westbourne Grove Section of the Grand Union Canal, Notting Hill, London; National Grid Collection; Proscenium Arch and Curtains for The Anvil Theatre, Basingstoke; Suspended Sculpture for The Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford; Sculpture for the Macclesfield Metro Interchange; Suspended Sculpture for the Riverside Community Centre, Sunderland; Oxford College; Entrance Doors for the Banbury Arts Centre, Oxfordshire; Los Angeles Craft Folk Collection; Weathervanes, Sculptural Finials and Chandelier for Dobcross Primary School, Oldham, Lancashire; Suspended Mobile for Redway School, Milton Keynes, Berkshire; Suspended Sculpture for Langland School, Milton Keynes; Metalwork for Ravenswood Housing Development, Ravenswood, Ipswich: Sculpture for Ravenswood Plaza, Ipswich; Sculptural Screen and Gates, Lectern, Font Aumbrey and Pinnacle Cross for St.John the Evangelist, Finsbury Park, London; Two Pairs of Gates, Overthrows and Canopies for Colbayn's High School, Clacton, Essex; Interacive Sculpture for the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Bristol; Museum of Folk Art, Kyoto, Japan; Fire and Iron Gallery; smaller domestic scale work in various private collections and commissions.....

MA ( RCA), Department of Metalwork, Royal College of Art; BA (Hons), Three-Dimensional Design, Chief Study Metals, West Surrey College of Art and Design; Coll. Dip., South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education; Consultant Designer to Rotherham Council; Richard Quinnell Ltd.; C.Pillow and Son, Peter Vaughan Ltd.; Guisseppe Lund Studio; Duo Associates; Phoenix Design Partnership.

Twenty-three happy years teaching Short Courses at West Dean in Decorative and Sculptural Ironwork and also Short Courses in Drawing; as a part-time Visiting Lecturer: Six years teaching on the BA(Hons) Metals course at West Surrey College of Art and Design (now the Surrey Institute); Five years teaching on the BA (Hons) Designed Metalwork and Jewellery course at Buckinghanshire College (now Chilterns University); Four years teaching on the BA (Hons) Design Crafts course at Leicester De Montfort University.

I've had various articles and exhibition catalogue/book content written about my practice over the years, such as in Crafts Magazine, Architecture Today, etc, but I personally have not tended to write about my work - I prefer to communicate about my work through my work.

I tend towards a sympathy with Diogenes in that regard.....