Forging new meaning

An exhibit at Madison Brass Works turns the historic building over to artists

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Even though Madison Brass Works has been non-operational for years, the former metalworking site on the city’s east side has come back to life.

The building, located at 214 Waubesa Street and along the Capital City State Trail, was erected in 1918. Madison Brass Works closed its doors officially in 1994, and the space was bought privately the following year, producing custom metal casings and ironwork. Since 2014 when the building went up for sale, it has stood defunct, a reminder of the city’s industrial past.

But that’s about to change.

Purchased by the Goodman Community Center in late 2015, the building will soon undergo restoration, eventually becoming part of the GCC, which has outgrown its nearby facility. Plans for Madison Brass Works include administrative offices and a large, airy, first-floor community room. And although the building is slated to undergo significant alterations, Goodman’s management wants to preserve much of the site’s historic exterior.

Before any of this happens, however, the Madison Brass Works building is host to a weeklong exhibition where its gritty, dynamic atmosphere is front and center. The aptly titled show Forge, running through June 17, features the work of nearly 20 Madison-area artists working within the industrial space, many producing site-specific works inspired by the building.

The brainchild of Reverb Art Collective members and area residents Ellen Carlson and Erika Monroe-Kane, Forge has been over a year in the making. “When I found the Goodman Community Center had purchased it, right away I approached them about having an exhibition in the space, before they did anything with it,” says Monroe-Kane.

Part event organizers, part curators, part post-industrial archaeologists, Carlson and Monroe-Kane worked to ensure the show’s participants not only shared their vision, but that they too loved the space.

“We wanted to engage artists who would find things [in the building] to utilize in their works,” says Monroe-Kane, who along with Carlson spent months inside the building, carefully prepping its interior to hold art. “The goal is to be able to retain the raw beauty that the space has, the patina of having been used as a forge for so long; to have it be able to recall the work and the people who created things here,”says Monroe-Kane.

The art in Forge, which includes photography, sculpture, installation and even soundscapes, is all unified by the building itself. Many of the pieces draw attention to the space, rewarding viewers’ attention and willingness to explore.

“Smoker’s Hideout,” by Gabe Strader-Brown, is composed of a hidden LED lightbox projecting a grid onto a strangely shaped corner wall, illuminating a section of the building that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.

“Totems,” an installation by Angela Richardson and Paul Andrews, incorporates industrial barrels, building keys and hand-written labels found within the space, organized into towers and spirals as tribute to the brass workers’ contribution to the history of the neighborhood.

Forge’s end result is a fascinating and wholly original viewing experience. Because much of the building was left unchanged (the space contains piles of casting sand, and employee timecards and work forms still hang on the walls), the lines between art and gallery space are blurred.

That is all part of the plan. Madison Brass Works becomes a dynamic, large-scale installation. From the enormous ceiling track that once held the site’s crucible, to minute, hand-written office notes, everything in the space springs to life – which is fitting for a building that’s come back from the dead.