Cambria Iron Conference 2023

Inspired by the Past – Forging to the Future

CMA’s mission is to renovate and refurbish the historic power hammers and tooling to make them available to be seen by the greater forging community and used by qualified professional blacksmiths. This event represents our first major step toward that goal by hosting an event open to the public and inviting a different artist every year to demonstrate.

Our goal for this event and this space are to keep the focus on forging, creativity, education, and historical preservation with the main demonstration taking place in the historic blacksmith shop on the industrial hammers. All of CMA facilities will be open to tour and we will have an exhibition on display as well as a smaller demonstration happening in our forging classroom.

Register here: https://centerformetalarts.org/product/cambria-iron-conference-registration/

Cambria Iron Conference Tours

The tours will run alongside CMA’s third annual Cambria Iron Conference. Johnstown residents and the greater community will have the opportunity to experience a little piece of Johnstown’s rich industrial heritage. Tours will take place on CMA’s campus, 106 Iron Street, Johnstown, PA 15906. There will be two tours offered. Each tour will begin promptly at the time you select when you register, so please arrive a few minutes early to get situated. The tour will last approximately 1-1.5 hours.

The tour will include three demonstrations, two buildings, and the history of the Cambria Iron historic landmark. Participants will get to experience the 3,000LB Chambersburg power hammer in action, one of the remaining large industrial hammers left inside the blacksmith shop, being used to forge sculpture with featured demonstrator Pete Mattila. Inside the Pattern shop, there will be additional metal forging demonstrations.

After the tour, participants will be encouraged to check out the exhibition on display. The conference exhibition, from Core to Surface, a national juried exhibition showcasing contemporary forged work will be on campus at 102 Iron Street.

***Earplugs will be provided. It is highly recommended that each tour participant brings their own eye protection. Eye protection will be available to borrow if needed.

Purchase tickets here: https://centerformetalarts.org/product/tours/