ARTIST STATEMENT: As a digital artist, and now a new blacksmith; I have always loved art. I’ve mostly done what one may consider to be traditional art- painting, drawing with markers or pencils, digital art, things of that nature. I hope to be able to put my already learned skills into blacksmithing, working on expressing myself freely and committing to finishing a piece.

Although used to something small in my hand, a hammer is much different, yet it still holds true to what I am familiar with. Of course, there’s still a lot to learn and I’m excited to see what’s in store for me and blacksmithing.

I feel like art is a way of expressing oneself, and that is the goal here for my personal project; except I will be using metal and the hot fire. This will try and connect myself further into my trans masculine identity, something that I haven’t really covered on my own before.

I feel like blacksmithing is an excellent way to ground myself and makes it easier to reflect. It also feels like a journey and struggle in itself, a journey that I find will likely be similar to my journey on discovering my gender identity.