Basic HTML Version
15
washington county arts guide
❘
June — August
By Deeda Schroeder
W
hen Tim Gabriel
looks at a cold piece
of steel, he can see
inside it.
The dark metal hides leaves, spirals
and even vegetables within — and
Gabriel coaxes them out.
He heats the metal until it’s glowing
hot and supple as butter, then hits it
with the right tool and a hammer to
force it into stretching and bending.
It’s a process of trial and error, he
explained — experimenting with a
new tool he’s made, for example —
until it’s just right. Mistakes aren’t
something to be embarrassed about.
“I love to fail,” he said. “That’s when
you learn the most.”
He’s been a full-time blacksmith,
forging ornamental and utilitarian
objects in his back yard Hillsboro
studio, for the past five years.
It all started in high school in Walla
Walla, Wash., when Gabriel needed to
forge a chisel for an agricultural
mechanics course.
“That’s when I got bit by
the forging bug,” he said.
It took decades, however,
for him to turn a backyard
hobby into his day job.
In his youth, Gabriel spent
four years in Navy
submarine welding shops.
He worked in a sawmill and
as a sheet metal fabricator,
and in 1981 attended
machinist school. Later, he
earned a degree in design
from Clackamas Community
College.
After that Gabriel, 61, a
Hillsboro resident, spent
years designing layouts for
hospital operating rooms
and planning factories for
Intel.
‘Can’t just free-form it’
Attention to detail and planning are
still a big part of what he does today.
For larger projects,
such as the “art gate”
he’s working on now
for Jackson Bottom
Wetlands, Gabriel
draws the piece to full
scale on a computer
and then projects that
drawing onto a wall to
create a template.
Then he painstakingly
forges each piece.
“I can’t just free-
form it. I have to
design it,” he said.
The gate, which
stands 5 feet tall and
10 feet wide at the
north viewing area at
the wetlands, isn’t
simply a barrier —
Gabriel visited the wetlands for
inspiration he turned into features of
the structure itself. Tall reeds and
cattails form the vertical “bars” of the
gate, twisting and curving as they
would in nature.
“The more we try to work with
nature, the better it is,” he observed.
Grant money to build the gate came
from the City of Hillsboro Parks and
Recreation Department and the
Jackson Bottom Wetlands board of
directors.
Ideas for other projects come from
the people for whom Gabriel is making
his art. He listens to what they’re
asking for, carefully gauging their
priorities and interests.
Forging ideas
To do that, Gabriel lives by a simple
maxim: “I like to forge people’s ideas.”
He built his own forge and builds
many of the tools he works with, often
creating them for specific projects.
He’ll work backward, considering the
end result and experimenting with
tools and process until finding what
works. “I’m learning all the time,” he
said.
That process is more rewarding
than the finished work itself, Gabriel
added. “I really enjoy the journey. If
something ends up really nice, that’s a
bonus.”
Gabriel has made hundreds of
pieces, from jewelry to chopsticks,
umbrella stands to handrails.
Every time, he loses himself in his
individual actions, paying close
attention to each step and what he’s
put into it. It’s a deliberate practice,
collecting experience and information
that will guide future projects.
“It’s analytical, but it’s art too,” he
said.
Perhaps most rewarding for Gabriel,
however, is the tactile sensation of
hitting the metal and feeling it resist.
“It’s just satisfying,” he said. “It just
is.”
Hillsboro resident forges steel, turning it into creations that imitate nature
Tim Gabriel makes an ‘art gate’ at wetlands
Former Navy submarine welder, sheet metal fabricator and professional designer Tim Gabriel works with steel in his Washington
County workshop. Gabriel, 61, is laboring on an “art gate” for Jackson Bottom Wetlands this summer.
“The more we try
to work with
nature, the
better it is.”
Tim Gabriel
chase allgood