CBC Radio’s Margaret Gallagher, the host and producer of North by Northwest, BC’s highest-rated weekend show, reached out for an interview in early November 2024. Margaret meets creative people from all around the province speaking about their passions and inspirations.
Listen to the 11-minute segment by clicking here.
Invitation to an interview
"We're doing a series on folks working with metals, and I would love to come and visit your studio next week to do a taped audio piece," she wrote.
A half-hour turned into a whole hour of conversation about metal, metal fabrication, restoration, repair, and art.
These were some of Margaret's questions:
How did you get into working with metal?
I was always curious about how things worked. In our basement, I made steam engines out of tomato soup cans.
As a young person, I had a learning challenge and saw a child psychologist. When the psychologist discovered that I took apart clocks, he saw this as a problem. My parents and I did not. What he saw as a problem was my curiosity in action.
What keeps you working with metal?
One of the things I love about working with metal is the joy and surprise of forming metal into various and sometimes unexpected shapes.
And I love teaching and passing on my passion to people of all ages, from 5 to 95.
Listen to the 11-minute segment by clicking here.
machines and tools
We talked about the machines and tools that you can see in the shop, including:
- A 1939 lathe from the Jericho seaplane base, which assisted in the repair of seaplanes protecting our coast
- Oxygen and acetylene tanks and torches
- A propane forge for heating big metal objects slowly and an induction forge that heats metal white hot in less than a minute
- A 150-year-old Peter Wright anvil from the Nelson area possibly used in a mine.
restoring and repairing: getting rid of our throwaway society
We discussed how items that people bring to the shop for repair and restoration are rich in history and have sentimental meaning.
These childhood memories are significant and are a reminder of a treasured grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle and other family members. Clients who come with these items want to pass them down to the younger generation.
These family treasures are not only physical "things." They are full of memories, histories, and emotions - as if they have a life and a heart.
We don't have to throw everything away. If things are not repairable, we can recycle them.
whimsical art to engage visitors At the Eastside culture Crawl
Many items entertain and engage visitors of all ages during the Eastside Culture Crawl.
We show visitors objects in motion, like the two marionettes: a miniature blacksmith holding a golf club and a hockey stick on his back and whose hat flies off when he gets frustrated. A miniature metal anvil, forge tank and cat accompany him.
Then there's another marionette, Bucephalus, a steel horse weighing 10 lbs.
There is also a resonant metal violin weighing 7 lbs made without formal design drawings but created as close to a 4 x 4 adult violin.
And one year, we had a bicycle-powered pipe organ.
Culture Crawl Enthusiasts on Bicycle Powered Organ Pipe
creative and unexpected commissions
The stork is a water feature co-designed with a client who has two smaller metal storks in his garden and dreamed of having a large one for his fish pond.