Blacksmithing, an ancient technology, was common to Fairbanks in its earlier years. Forty years ago the old F. E. Company shop on Illinois Street had an anvil that weighed seven hundred pounds and was in scale to the work required on massive mining dredges. Remnants of smaller forges are still found at many of the placer sites on local creeks where they were used to build and maintain tools and equipment, shoe horses, and sharpen picks. Sometimes an overgrown slag pile is all that remains.

Sheet metal work, another early trade, is represented in this exhibit by Roy Wilbur, whose grandfather, Alden Wilbur Senior, opened his shop in Fairbanks in 1915. Roy carries on the family business with a level of skill and ingenuity that would please his father and grandfather.
Now, a hundred years after the founding of Fairbanks, we still have skilled blacksmiths and sheet metal workers among us, but welders, machinists, artists, knife makers, and jewelers have joined them.

Technological advances in metalworking are most clearly illustrated by the machining of Eric Johansen and Ned Manning. Computer-guided machines facilitate working to very exact tolerances. Eric's Simplex gas engine and Ned's drill coupling are wonderful examples of what can be accomplished using modern technology.

View a list of participants from Made in Fairbanks

Guest Curators - read their statements:
Steve Bouta, Developing Invention
James Brashear, Ceramics
Jean Carlo, Native Arts
Wanda Chin, Multimedia
Peggy Ferguson, Performing Arts
Jennifer Jolis, Food Products
Len Kamerling, Filmmaking
John Manthei, Wood
Barry McWayne, Commercial Photography
David Mollett, Visual Applied Arts
Connie Page, Wood
Todd Sherman, Visual Applied Arts
Glen Simpson, Metal
Frank Soos, Writing
Suzanne Summerville, Ph.D., Music
Penny Wakefield, Fiber Works

Return to the Made in Fairbanks introduction.

Exhibitions