Proctor: “I was always a bit of a pyro, you could say.”
Luke Proctor, who took home the Best in Show award in the metal works category at last year’s Art Fair on the Square, wants us to rethink our stereotyped image of a blacksmith — a craftsman toiling away making farm implements.
The Stoughton native produces an entire set of stunning functional furniture from blacksmithed metals, and he wants to rebrand the work he loves so the wider world will consider blacksmithing a fine art.
“A lot of ceramicists and glassblowers are thought of as artists, but usually not blacksmiths,” says Proctor. “And it’s interesting, since a lot of their work used to be considered a trade.”
Proctor fell in love with blacksmithing after taking a welding course at Madison College, but he says there was no single moment that led him to the art.
“I was always a bit of a pyro, you could say,” says Proctor, laughing. “You have this hard object that’s not malleable at all when it’s cold, but then you heat it intensely and can shape and move it how you want.”
Proctor’s works — for sale on his website and at art fairs across the country — feature tables, shelving, candle holders, lamps and sculptural bowls, all crafted in sleek, sparse and beautifully nuanced fashion.
“I like clean lines and simple forms,” says Proctor, adding that he’s influenced by Mid-century Modern, Scandinavian Modern and Danish Modern styles.
This aesthetic is especially evident in Proctor’s tables, which feature metal legs hoisting up acrylic tops, creating a delicate, artful balance.
And as a nod to the symbiotic history of blacksmithing and agriculture, Proctor embellishes pieces with touches of paint — some in John Deere green, others in the signature orange shade of Allis Chalmers farm implements.
Proctor first exhibited his work in 2008 at the Art Fair Off the Square, an event featuring Wisconsin artists that has exhibited adjacent to the art fair for 39 years. The next year, he submitted to the jury for Art Fair on the Square and feels lucky to have made it in that year, and in subsequent years. As the Best in Show winner in his category last year, Proctor received an automatic invitation to this year’s event.
Proctor is hard at work in his cavernous 24-by-35-foot garage studio, which is outfitted with a Little Giant power hammer machine (an instrument that mechanically raises a hammer to strike it down with force), a modern gas forge, a coke forge, and shelves filled with handmade instruments (including more than 50 different hammers). He has been churning out work for nearly six months in preparation for the fair circuit.
“The show is crazy,” Proctor says of the Madison event. “I sell well there, so over the winter I just try to build up as many pieces as possible.” And while demand for different items has ebbed and flowed, Proctor says his tables, especially in smaller sizes (they start at 12 inches wide and 30 inches long), have been a hot commodity.
Proctor says seeing his pieces in person, and taking in their weight and craftsmanship, is what often attracts a buyer. Many customers will meet him at an event and later contact him through his website, when they’re finally ready to make a purchase.
When the Art Fair on the Square finishes up on Sunday evening, Proctor will take to the interstate in his cargo van (complete with a built-in bed) and head east toward Ann Arbor, for the city’s 2018 Street Art Fair. This year alone, he’ll attend as many as 14 festivals, some as far away as Oregon, his vehicle filled to the brim with hand-crafted furniture. With art.
This story is part of a series on the 60th anniversary of the Art Fair on the Square. You can access the full series here.
