Joel Sanderson has been creating beauty with iron all his life. Through a life-long fascination for the working of hot iron, he has developed unique methods of manipulation for this age-old medium. Working in a facility equipped with belt driven machinery over a hundred years old, Joel has combined the most successful methods of the past with new inventive approaches for working iron, the most versatile of all material. Joel's career began when he was thirteen years old, when he overhauled his great grandfather's 19th century forge and first actively pursued his curiosity for hot metal. Every free day, every available evening, Joel was found by the forge fire, heating iron, experimenting, learning. Even during his college years, when he was briefly distracted by a teaching career, Joel spent all the time he could learning to form metal: metallurgy and jewelry in the classroom, weekends and vacation by the fire.

In 1993, Joel decided to abandon all other distractions
and pursue his dream with all of his energy. Over the next five years, Joel
strengthened the foundation of his education: he began a part-time bladesmithing
business, he worked as assistant blacksmith for Black Swamp Forge in Ohio,
and then he worked as machinist and die maker for Arrowsmith Forge in New
York. During this period, Joel was exposed to many aspects of metalworking,
furthering his education and providing a firm foundation on which his understanding
of metal has been built.

Returning to his home studio in 1998, Joel began a nation-wide search for
rare 19th and early 20th century metalworking machines which would enable
the realization of his artistic vision. His studio now contains more than
a dozen machines over a century old, several of which are sole survivors from
a past era. These rare machines allow expression in metal not possible in
any other studio in America. Through the use of this unique mechanical vocabulary,
Joel Sanderson creates works of unprecedented form and beauty and has become
a leader in his medium.

| Joel's work may be seen in the following galleries: | |
| * | |
| Bier Gallery, Charlevoix, MI | 2003-2010 |
| Portals, LTD, Chicago, IL | 2007-2010 |
| Stowe Craft Gallery, Stowe, VT | 2008-2010 |
| Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH | 2007-2010 |
| The following are places Joel's work has been shown: | |
| Crosby Gardens, Toledo OH | 2000 |
| Lima Arts Gallery, Lima, OH | 2005 |
| ABANA Seattle | 2006 |
| ABANA Richmond * | 2004 |
| Quad State | 1999-2006 |
| SOFA Chicago | 2007 |
| SOFA Chicago | 2008 |
| Grand Rapids ArtPrize | 2009 |
| The following publications show Joel's work: | |
| Ironwork Today, Inside and Out; by Dona Z. Meilach, 2006 | |
| The Anvil's Ring, Fall 2001 | |
| The Anvil's Ring, Fall 2002 | |
| The Anvil's Ring, Summer 2004 | |
| The Anvil's Ring, Spring 2005 | |
| World Art Glass Quarterly 2009, Vol. 5 | |
| Joel has written the following articles: | |
| "What a Working Reid Needs--making a versatile carburetor for a 15 hp Reid," Gas Engine Magazine, June 2009 (Vol. 44, No. 4) | |
| "A Reid on a Line Shaft?" Part 1. Gas Engine Magazine, May 2006 (Vol. 41, No. 5) | |
| "Tuning a Reid for Line Shaft Duty," Part 2. Gas Engine Magazine, June 2006 (Vol. 41, No. 6) | |
| Joel has been featured in the following newspapers: | |
| The Detroit Free Press | |
| The Chicago Tribune | |
| The Coldwater Reporter | |
| The Hillsdale Daily News | |
| The Florida Sun | |
| The Battle Creek Enquirer | |
| The Kalamazoo Gazette | |
