The gunslingers are a pretty geographically diverse crowd, but I'm going to post a shameless plug for a local event anyway.

Those of you in the Memphis area (or any of you farther away who have a strong interest in metalsmithing) may be aware of a museum called the National Ornamental Metal Museum . The Metal Museum is one-of-a-kind in the nation, focusing specifically on decorative metal work ranging from fine metal jewelry to large iron work. Smithsonian even ran an article about the museum earlier this year. In addition to the museum's gallery space, there is a working smithy and a working foundry on the grounds. Weekend workshops are held several times a year so people can try their hand and blacksmithing or casting, and the smithy and foundry both are active operations providing repair services and new art. (The gates of Graceland spent some time in the smithy, the trophies for the annual barbecue contest are made by the museum, and other projects include a giant dragon in the entry of Grahamwood Elementary School, the freestanding sculpture in front of the Cook Convention Center at the corner of Poplar and Front, a five-piece silver service for the submarine USS Tennessee, and a dedication plaque for the coastal patrol ship USS Whirlwind.) Work is underway to restore an old house on the grounds to serve as a library, which when completed will provide access to the museum's existing library of metalworking reference material - a library that is said to be the largest such collection of materials in the country. Every October, the museum holds a fund raiser called Repair Days. During that weekend, a couple hundred volunteers will gather from across the country and provide repair services for any metal objects that show up. (The exact motto for the weekend is "Anything but cats, cars and broken hearts.") They'll sharpen knives and scissors, re-tin pots, un-mangle silverware that's gone down the disposal, re-assemble broken candle sticks, and do just about anything else you can think of. And since the volunteers are working either in the smithy or under tents on the grounds, visitors can wander around the grounds and watch the repairs in progress. All of the proceeds go to the museum. This year, it's being held from Friday, October 13 through Sunday, October 15.

Why am I talking about the museum and Repair Days here? Especially so many weeks before Repair Days? Well, each year the museum brings in a "master smith" to take part in Repair Days. The show that is in the gallery around Repair Days is always a one-man show of that master smith's work, and the master smith gives a talk for the volunteers on Saturday night. This year, the master smith is my father. Dad's been active with the museum since before it opened (he and the museum's director both attended Southern Illinois University) and he has been taking his metals students from Memphis College of Art down to help with Repair Days since the early 80's. He was the artist responsible for both the silver service and dedication plaque I mentioned earlier. Dad's show runs from September 5 (next Tuesday) through November 14. If you're in the Memphis area during the weekend of October 13-15, I highly recommend stopping by the museum to check out Repair Days (even if you don't have anything that needs fixing), and if you can't make it downtown for Repair Days I would still heartily recommend checking out dad's show if you are in the area between September 5 and November 14. It's going to be a very cool show.

The show's up and ready for Tuesday. We got a brief glance at it this afternoon. I may be a bit biased, but it's a great looking show. In case you're not going to be around Memphis, you might appreciate a few of the pictures I snagged earlier today. Here are two samples in case you want to play a bit of chess (pardon the poor shot, the flash and the case had a disagreement) or build a little cabin out of silver lincoln logs - click on either of them to see more.

Gonk,

You should be proud of your dad and his work, and I know you are. I have always admired metal workers and would love to have that talent. Your dad's work is fantastic.

Thanks, Paratrooper. We're all proud of him, and there are some very special pieces in the show. Not only are our daughter Kate's silver baby cup and gold teething rattle in there, but there are several pieces from my "collection" of his work. The lincoln logs pictured above are mine, as is a "flying machine" that I inherited from dad's twin brother when he died about eight years ago (it's the thumbnail by the "Links" link on my site\'s front page - but I've got a better picture that I'll try to track down). There's even a copper panel of a turtle that normally hangs at the end of the hall in our house and was the first example of texture that our daughter ever discovered. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to Repair Days next month and to giving folks a chance to see a wide array of his work. I may try to expand my show page at some point with some of the other shots I took.

From time to time I'm asked how the son of two artists (mom teaches high school art and art history) ended up being an engineer, and I always tell folks that it's because of the mechanical aspects of dad's work and because of how interesting it was to watch him develop processes to achieve certain goals in making new pieces that I ended up in mechanical engineering. Dad's version is a bit less literally true - he tells folks that when I was four or five I thought it looked like fun coming up with new processes and objects, but that I decided I wanted to get paid for it when I grew up.

The first day of Repair Days (and the opening and gallery talk for dad's show) is over. We'll be heading back out to the museum shortly (hence the flurry of posting this morning), but we'll probably spend the afternoon here at home getting some things done around here since my wife's going on a business trip early Monday morning. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow or Monday.

The last day for dad's show was today, so the work should start coming down on Tuesday. I was hoping to head out with dad Tuesday afternoon and help retrieve a good chunk of it, but I've got meetings lined up all day so I may not be able to help with that. Even still, we should have our missing art back at home within the week. It was a great show. I didn't get any pictures during Repair Days (spent most of my time following Kate around the grounds), but as a send-off of sorts I'll add to my show page tomorrow with some more pictures.

As promised, I finally went back through my pictures and posted basically everything I had. A few samples of the new additions are below, and if you click on them they'll take you to the page with everything...