Recently, HIAA graduate students took a blacksmithing workshop at the Steel Yard in Providence, led by John Harvey. The goal of the workshops was for each participant to make a penannular brooch and a pin. A penannular brooch, or Celtic brooch, is a type of clothes fastener, and the finished results from the students are pictured here.

This workshop was this year's graduate "techne," which offers students the opportunity to get hands-on experience crafting objects to complement their studies. Dandan Xu, grad student, and workshop participant, notes, "I think it was a very good opportunity to think more about the nature of the materials (in this case metal) from which art objects were made. The embodied experience also helps us to ponder the relationship between the manufacturing processes and finished products. Even a simple brooch like the ones we made involves a lot of planning, labor, and studio practices."