RAWTools Blacksmithing Trailer
Jacob C Hammes
Custom tool trailer with stage, sound system, and blacksmithing equipment, used at public blacksmithing performances and gun buyback events.
2024
In Fall of 2023 I was asked by Mural Arts to meet with Shane Claiborne, activist and blacksmith, about the possibility of collaborating on a project involving the subject of “Equity.” Funded by DBHIDS, the collaboration was inspired by the work Shane does with Raw Tools, and the work I had done collaborating with Prevention Point on the Love Lot in 2022-23. We were asked to design a public sculpture and a public engagement program involving gun violence.
Our public engagement involved both in-shop demonstrations of woodworking, blacksmithing, and welding to Kensington residents, as well as public gun-buyback events across Philadelphia in April 2024.
As part of the project we I fabricated a tool trailer for hauling the various tools (anvils, hammers, forge, propane) used in blacksmithing, in an effort to facilitate public events where firearms are voluntarily surrendered, decommissioned, and converted to garden tools. The multi-use trailer featured a stage that allowed accompaniment of our work with performances of music, dance, poetry, and spoken testimonials by victims of gun violence.
Gun Buyback event and Public Blacksmithing Performance
April 27, 2024
Gapura Indonesian Community Center, Philadelphia
Gun Buyback event and Public Blacksmithing Performance
April 13, 2024
Kensington Corridor Trust, Philadelphia
Gun Buyback event and Public Blacksmithing Performance
April 20, 2024
St. Pauls Lutheran Church, Olney, Philadelphia
RAIR Residency
Trailer construction at RAIR (Recycled Artist In Residence) Philadelphia, February and April 2024.
In February of 2024 I participated in a residency at RAIR (Recycled Artist in Residence) in order to begin this work. RAIR is based at Revolution Recovery, a recycling plant in Northeast Philly that sorts and processes waste brought to the site. The trailer was constructed using building materials salvaged from the waste stream during this residency.