Intro to Welding & Shaping: Make a Table Lamp at Wendell Castle Workshop!

This 4-day workshop focuses on the creation of a steel table lamp, combining functional design with metalworking techniques. Students will learn essential skills in cutting, shaping, welding, and finishing steel, using various shaping tools to craft their own unique lamp. The class will begin with an introduction to working with mild steel, followed by demonstrations of key metalworking techniques. Students will then create initial sketches and experiment with different forms by making a chipboard prototype. By the end of the workshop, students will have completed a functional, handcrafted steel table lamp. This class is suitable for both beginners and those with some experience in metalworking, offering practical skills and a solid foundation in forming steel. About Wendell Castle Workshop (WCW) WCW is a nonprofit woodworking and metalworking school in the longtime studio of Wendell Castle. Mr. Castle, known as the father of art furniture, has work in private collections and museums worldwide. He passed away in 2018 and his family founded the nonprofit to honor his legacy through the creative energy of others. At the end of the first day of classes students will have the opportunity to tour his studio and see some of his masterpieces in the onsite gallery. Instructor: Annalisa Barron Annalisa Barron is an interdisciplinary artist based in New York City and Rochester, NY. She graduated from Penn State University with a BFA in painting and drawing in 2013 and with an MFA in sculpture from the Pratt Institute in 2017. Her work has been exhibited at the Cooper Union, University of Rochester, Southern Oregon University, BunkerPROJECTS Gallery (Pittsburgh, PA), U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua, NO/GLOSS film festival (UK), and the Anthology Film Archives (NYC). The Kingdom of Back (2017) was featured in Berlin, Germany, as part of GRRL HAUS Cinema’s 2018 European tour. She served as a panelist for the 2020 NYFA Craft and Sculpture Fellowships and is a recipient of NYSCA’s 2021 DEC Regrant Program/Individual Artist Grant. She has received support from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New York Film and Video Council, the AAUW, the New York State Inspire Grant, Penn State University, and the Simmons-Jansma Project Renew Grant. Currently, Annalisa teaches in the College of Art and Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology.