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