Carla brings to her work a unique focus on education and awareness around metalworking, promoting knowledge and new applications for contemporary blacksmithing. She has taught metalworking workshops at the Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington, and currently teaches blacksmithing and welding at The Crucible, a nonprofit industrial educational organization in Oakland. Carla's engaging and accessible teaching style is especially apparent in her work with youth. She has taught workshops for young women through Girls, Inc., expanding the horizons of creative creation and career opportunities available to women in the metalworking field.

Carla's diverse education includes study at Penland Craft School, The Evergreen State College, where she received a BA in metalwork, and apprenticeships. Her greatest influences are from Japanese Folk Art and Architecture and from the Arts and Crafts Era. She currently runs Red Frog Metal Design, and works as a Studio Manager and instructor at The Crucible in Oakland, California.

Red Frog Metal Design is available for custom commission work in interior architectural elements, furniture, and interior accessories. For information on custom work, please see the contact page.

^ back to top   

I like hot things. In fact, I need them. This is, I know, from growing up in the thick humidity of North Carolina and spending every possible moment outside. Like everyone, I have very special things that I hold onto from my childhood; shucking corn and shelling peas, the big magnolia tree in my front yard, hunting for crayfish and salamanders and frogs in the neighbors creek. Frogs. I was obsessed with frogs. Some nights I would refuse to come inside until I found one, and would throw tantrums if I was made to come inside anyway. I just wanted to find them, to see their dark bubbly skin and their big eyes, to see where they lived and hid.

I've been away from North Carolina for about ten years with a couple of stints living in the Appalachian Mountains at Penland Craft School. I've existed in a lot of different communities and learned in many different capacities- in academics at Earlham and Evergreen State College, in vocational school at Alamance Community College, in craft school at Penland Craft School and by apprenticeship working with many talented metal workers. This diversity of learning and experience has shaped my work more than anything else.

Most of my time is spent in the city now, in Oakland and San Francisco. When I am not forging or welding in my studio, I am working with the Crucible, a non-profit, community based, industrial art school. I teach welding to adults and to youth and help out in the studio.

As far as my inspiration, I look at many different things. Industrial forms and architecture, specifically from Japanese folk culture, are perhaps my biggest influences. The simplicity of a Japanese structure gives emphasis to its joinery. Joinery is all too often overlooked. Typically, I will think first about a joint or how something will be connected and determine its design from here. I also look at large structures, such as silos and water tanks, and think of their function in both urban and rural settings. I deal with this conflict daily, urban and rural and the compromise of living in either setting. I notice when weeds creep up between the cracks in sidewalks and when tree roots upturn concrete. The battle of nature reclaiming itself is constant.

Many of my passions and obsessions have changed since I was young. I no longer spend so much time searching out frogs. Instead, I work with metal. I don't often climb trees, but will every so often work with urban farm projects and school garden projects. The results of being true to the passions are, however, the same-gratification.

^ back to top   

:: EDUCATION ::

Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA     Independent Study, Sculpture	1999-2000
The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA     Bachelor of Arts, Metalworking	1997-1999
Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC     Blacksmithing and Furniture Design	1996,1999
Alamance Community College, Graham, NC     ARC Welding	1996
Steel Sculpture Apprenticeship, Chapel Hill, NC     Oxygen/Acetylene torch and finish work	1995-1996
Earlham College, Richmond, IN     Fine Arts and Geology	1993-1995

:: WORK EXPERIENCE ::

Red Frog Metal Design, Oakland, CA     Independent Metal Fabricator and Sculptor	2002-2004
The Crucible, Oakland, CA     Studio Manager and Welding Instructor at Industrial Art School	2000-2004
Academy of Art College, San Francisco, CA     Sculpture Technician	2001
Mike Bondi Metal Design, Richmond, CA     Production Assistant	2000
The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA     Metal and Wood Shop Assistant	1998-1999

:: SHOWS & EXHIBITIONS ::

Public Art Exhibition, 915 Front St, San Francisco, CA	2002-2004
House of Red, San Francisco, CA	2003
The Shop, San Francisco, CA	2003
Mezzanine, San Francisco, CA	2003
Cricket Engine Gallery, Oakland, CA	2002
San Francisco Open Studios, San Francisco, CA	2002-2003
The Crucible, Fire Arts Festival, Berkeley, CA	2001
East Bay Open Studios, Oakland, CA	2001
Green Tara Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC	2000
Penn State University, University Park, PA	2000
ABANA Member's Gallery, National Conference, Asheville, NC	2000
The Evergreen State College,Thesis Exhibit, Olympia, WA	1999
Earlham College, Spring Art Exhibit, Richmond, IN	1995

:: TEACHING ::

The Crucible, Oakland, CA     Introduction to Welding, Welded Sculpture,      Youth Welding Workshops, Women's Welding	2001-2004
The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA     Blacksmithing Workshops to Metalworking classes      and through the Women's Center	1998-1999

:: PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS ::

Artist's Blacksmiths Association of North America	1997-2004
California Blacksmith Association	2000-2004
Pennsylvania Blacksmith Association	1999-2000
Northwest Blacksmith Association	1998-1999
Pro Arts	2001
Pacific Center for the Book Arts	2003-2004
The Center for Book Arts, New York, NY	2003-2004

:: MENTORS ::
Mike Bondi, Hoss Haley, Japheth Howard, Alice James, Nol Putnam, Mike Roig, Bob Woods

^ back to top