I’ve been playing around with metal arts since I was 15, so when I heard that a multidisciplinary arts center with welding and forging facilities was moving into a giant warehouse near my home, some blood vessels burst in my eye. There are not many of these spaces in Chicago, so I immediately contacted Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center (CIADC) founder Matt Runfola to see how to get involved and how Craftsman might be able to help.

The Chicago Radio Laboratory signage still remains in the building, and Matt is proud of the history of the space, which gave birth to Zenith Electronics via the work of makers a century ago.

Matt ran the Evanston Arts Center’s metalworking program for the last 13 years, but when the organization made plans to move to a new building this year, the new space was unable to accommodate metalworking facilities. So Matt decided to go off on his own and go bigger and better by taking over a poured concrete and masonry building that would be mighty hard to burn down. This woodless construction allowed for welding, forging, and even casting to take place in the building and with a full three stories to play with, there was ample space to fabricate objects using any methods he could dream up.

Forging and metalworking equipment!

So, beyond the firey arts that make my heart swell, there are numerous other workstations in the CIADC building, allowing for glass blowing, wood working (which Craftsman will now be providing numerous tools for, since the greatest need was in this department), and even 3-D printing and electronics. This is all very intentional–the purpose is not to teach people how to fabricate a prescribed end product, but to make them work out a project using a broader creative process.

Woodworking space.

Basically, you could learn to make a wood table top, then learn how to weld a table base, then cast a vase to sit on top of the thing. Then you could buy some flowers for the vase, model a necklace on a computer, and fabricate it at a jewelry station and have a damned dinner party. It’s not about production, it’s about process and creating something that is truly unique and from your own wonderful brain.

3-D printing studio and electronics space.

This way of thinking reminded me of my time spent with the Austin Tinkering School and their philosophy of learning and fostering true creativity and problem solving skills, which we are sorely lacking these days. If you can’t make this one way, figure out another way, or take the project in a new direction. There are a million ways to accomplish a goal and nothing is right or wrong. That’s the fun of it and what expands our brains. That’s art, science, alchemy, and what’s going to get us through any number of sticky situations in the future, in and out of the studio.

For more on the CIADC and to sign up for classes (this session is starting soon!), click here.

Where the magic happens in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood. (Photo courtesy of the CIADC)