Today we’d like to introduce you to Carla Hall.
Hi Carla, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in central North Carolina in a working class family and was influenced by the Appalachian craft culture and the wood and textile crafters in my family. I began metalsmithing while studying art at a small liberal arts school- Earlham college and quickly realized I wanted to work metal on a larger scale. I spent a couple of years exploring blacksmithing at Penland Craft School and working with professional artists, while finishing college at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. I stayed on the West Coast, landing in The Bay Area in 2000, where a small non-profit organization called The Crucible had just been started. I quickly became a core part of the community and spent the next seventeen years building and running industrial arts programs for youth in the Bay Area. I also began my own professional journey as a studio artist blacksmith, designing and building custom metalwork for public and private spaces. I led multiple group sculpture and public art projects and won a Jefferson Award for Outstanding Community Service in Industrial Arts Education.
In the summer of 2017, my wife (originally from Minneapolis) and I moved to the Twin Cities to begin a new chapter of life. I set up shop in North Minneapolis, with friends I had met through the national blacksmithing circuit and rooted in the arts community. I began working as an instructor at Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center in South Minneapolis as well as at North House Folk School in Grand Marais. The vitality of my work paused between 2019 and 2021 with the birth of two babies, COVID shut downs and the loss of my dad and step dad. I maintained my metal shop and focused on healing and finding a new direction of work.
I relaunched my studio work in 2022 and felt a strong pull to the educational aspect of work. I felt siloed and isolated in my own working process without the deeper community and youth engagement. I applied for and was awarded a grant through the MN State Arts Board to mentor queer youth in blacksmithing, create sculpture that represented our identities and life experiences and exhibit in an open studio event during Twin Cities PRIDE 2024. This project was powerful and motivating for me as an artist, educator and human. I realized that queer youth continue to face struggles of isolation, self-doubt, self-hatred, bullying and fear, as well as growing anti-gay and trans legislation. The need for community, connection and self expression became even more apparent. Out of this grew an idea and then a reality of a non-profit organization called IAMA- Industrial Arts Mentorship for All, providing industrial arts experiences, community and opportunity to under-represented youth in the Twin Cities. The idea was IAMA, would be a play on identity, a way we could connect to each other by naming and identifying who we are. “I AM A…..” This is a writing and sharing exercise that we do together as we come into relationship and working space together. It is vulnerable and uncomfortable sometimes, as well as freeing and mind opening.
IAMA has been in operation just over a year in our North Minneapolis studio space. We provided opportunity for 170 youth during the first year of operation in blacksmithing, copper forming and metal fabrication. We have developed community partnerships with Queer Space Collective, Avenues for Youth ConneQT and the CTE (Career Technical Education) program through Minneapolis Public Schools. We are currently piloting a pre-apprentice program for 17-23 year olds as they explore secondary education and career pathways in the trades, arts and industrial arts.
We have received funding from Metropolitan Regional Arts Council to run a 2025 PRIDE Youth Blacksmithing Program for queer youth ages 12-18, with an open studio and PRIDE Celebration during Twin Cities PRIDE. This program allows us to support creative expression and celebrate the accomplishments and experiences of queer youth in the Twin Cities.
I continue my art making journey and creative process, working out of the North Minneapolis studio space. I am currently working on a private sculpture commission of a giant agave with cicada details as well as a public art project with ISLA, International Spanish Language Academy funded by a Forecast Public Art Mid-Career grant.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As a As a queer woman in the field of metalworking, in the trades and on job sites, I have often faced sexism and homophobia. I have always been in the minority and often underestimated nor given opportunities for growth and challenge. My own experience has been the inspiration for the educational and community based work that I do, as well as some of the concepts in my own personal art-making.
In my experience over the years of teaching art, sculpture and metalworking in various types of institutions, I have seen the gap in access to healthy and healing art-making and opportunities for self expression. Poorer communities have fewer resources and less time to dedicate to art. Art is a luxury for many people or completely inaccessible. Queer and BIPOC communities don’t always feel welcome or have mentors they can relate to or that reflect their identity. I want to always open the doors of my shop and create a safe, supportive space where all people can come to learn, make art and build community. This includes supporting young artists in their process of learning, so that they become confident in their own abilities, identities and in telling their stories.
For IAMA, time and financial resources are the main challenges, which I think is often the case in younger non-profits. We have been very fortunate to have seed funding from a few very generous funders and continue to network and search for support during a very challenging political climate. We have a good rhythm with our workshops, Pre-Apprentice and PRIDE programs and are working to solidify our foundation.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I consider myself a creative person who uses blacksmithing and metalworking techniques for making artwork. Community building and cultural expression inform the process of how I work.
I have been working with metal for over thirty years, though I have been drawing and thinking creatively since I could remember. Art and nature have always been my grounding forces. The concepts in my work generally reflect my life experience of growing up queer in the south during the 80s and 90s, as well as my spiritual connection with nature.
The stylization in my work reflect industrial forms, natural world forms as well as traditional Japanese architecture and visible joinery.
I am most proud of the engagement of community and relationship building that has happened in the various projects I have worked on through the years. I engage people of various ages, skill levels, life experiences and perspectives in creative processes that connect people to each other through a shared experience.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I am an adventurous person and the need for adventure and exploration has guided my life path. I love meeting new people and seeing how different people live and experience the world. I have found profound growth and self-realization in my experiences of travel and living in different places. I have traveled back and forth across the US many times, lived in six different states and spent many months backpacking and living in the backcountry of the Southwest US, California and parts of Appalachia. I have also explored parts of Mexico, Belize and France. These experiences have been transformative and inspiring.
In my artwork, learning to talk about and express painful and formative life experiences has been years in the making. Being open and honest about some of these experiences feels vulnerable and raw and is also what connects people to my work.
Starting and operating a non-profit is definitely a risk, especially in this political climate. The access to funding and visibility as an organization whose mission is to serve diverse audiences is uncertain. There are many ways this feels risky and hard, yet the need for the work and access to safe spaces like the IAMA studio is essential.
Pricing:
- Workshops and team-building opportunities available
- Commission artwork available
Contact Info:
- Website: www.iamayouth.org, www.carlahallmetaldesign.com
- Instagram: @iamayouth, @chmetaldesign
