New smithing club

[Frosty]

I just saw this on another smithing site and think it's a hopeful sign. A new blacksmithing club at the University of Tennessee.

https://news.utk.edu/2018/10/15/blacksmithing-club-fires-up-at-ut/?utm_sourc

Frosty The Lucky.

[JME1149]

That's awesome, hope they have a good mentor leading the program. Thanks for sharing the link, I never heard the little known fact at the end of the story before

"The Catholic church once prosecuted blacksmiths as witches because the work they did in cathedrals looked so three-dimensional and lifelike that the officials couldn’t believe it came from flat pieces of iron."

[Marc1]

That does not sound very plausible. Three Dimensional carving and sculpting ornate churches for millennia.

It was Romani and Gypsies who were persecuted with a string of bogus accusations and it was them who practiced the art of blacksmithing. 

 

[JHCC]

Yeah, I'm calling -- well, a term that would get me banned -- on that one. Let's go with "ahistorical nonsense".

On the other hand, if anyone is interested in a fascinating study of -- inter alia -- the role of blacksmiths in the ritual and religion of one part of central Africa, The Mande Blacksmiths by Patrick McNaughton is a fascinating read.

[jkmas]

I don't believe the little know fact either. The Church had to hire the artisans in the first place.  I would hate to see what the Church did  to the sculptors.  However, I like the idea of the blacksmith club.

[ThomasPowers]

Note that that "club" is trying to get access to the blacksmithing equipment owned by the Art department. (And I'd like to see their cite for the Church claim too. I have not run across that and it should have dated from the time periods I research!)

The local university to me is the same way; there is a smithy as part of the fine arts college even though its primarily an engineering/science school. (And a knifemaking club recently got started due to FiF; but after doing major damage to the Fine Arts smithing equipment and damage to a Metallurgy Prof's smithing equipment they are sort of fire-less last I heard.  College students---they seemed to believe they didn't need instruction to learn the craft; make you wonder why they were paying thousands to be taught stuff in college...)

[rockstar.esq]

On 10/19/2018 at 1:22 PM, ThomasPowers said:

they seemed to believe they didn't need instruction to learn the craft; make you wonder why they were paying thousands to be taught stuff in college...

People don't pay colleges to teach, they pay them to grant certifications.

If a student earns straight A's for three years of a four year program, they won't be offered 75% of the wage of a graduate.  They'll likely see offers running 50% or less. 

Now consider how many programs will graduate a student with a C average.  Is learning 75% of what was taught a better indicator for a good worker compared to someone who learned 100% of everything they were exposed to?

For most employers, the answer is yes because they figure "finishing something" is more important than doing a good job.

In my experience, practical application was outright discouraged in disciplines ranging from art to science at most of the institutions I attended.