Steneby Metal + Metal An international forged metal art exhibition from the faculty staff of Gothenburg University HDK Steneby Metal Art Programme and Steneby School of Crafts. Professor Heiner Zimmermann Associate Professor Tobias Birgersson Otto Samuelsson , Sören Hellquist , Karl Hallberg , Lina Söderberg For more than eight decades, skilled crafters and artists have been trained at Steneby, a university sited in a rural area of west Sweden that has a long tradition of steel mills and metalwork. Steneby has two different routes to working with metal: Metal Art at HDK Gothenburg University and Object – Jewellery Art at Steneby school of crafts and design. Both pathways have the ambition to make art and craft contemporary and to renew traditions. The work produced by the two courses extends from tiny, precious jewellery to a grand architectural scale in the components of buildings. The link between all of this is metal as a material, alongside a conviction that craft has an important role to play in society. Craft is about more than just shaping material: the processes involved in making are both tactile in themselves and an embodiment of the craftsperson’s skills. Craft is an ancient human experience, more than a rational making of objects, and Steneby brings this knowledge into public spaces. In a world where low costs and efficiency are prioritised, craft reclaims joy and imagination. Objects define human history and society is dependent upon them. Crafters take responsibility for making objects that transcend basic necessity and connect to the past, present and future, sharing this with others in the process. Steneby is very happy to be invited to Ferrous festival by Delyth Done and we see this exhibition as one part in our ongoing exchange of experiences with Hereford College of Arts, one of the hubs in an important network of metal art education and knowledge sharing. Today the modern village blacksmith is connecting local traditions to a global community of metalworkers in a craft movement that is an important part of being human. This exhibition shows examples of the artistic practice of teachers at the two Steneby educational institutions: welcome to Steneby Metal + Metal.