Forged Rhythms, an immersive installation of sound, imagery and poetry inspired by the craft of blacksmithing and the working forge at Tocal Homestead, premiered on Sunday 26 July as part of Peek into the Past.
Housed in the heritage Milk Room, the video and sound installation brought together filmmaker Jonathan Burrows, sound artist Huw Jones, sculptor and blacksmith Will Maguire, guest artist Stephen Gale of the Artist Blacksmiths Association of NSW, and twin brothers Dave and Bob Skelton – blacksmith and poet/striker respectively – whose original poetry and stories anchor the piece.
The day drew strong visitor numbers through the Milk Room, with an artist talk adding to the experience. In Will Maguire’s absence, poet and blacksmith Bob Skelton graciously stepped in to speak to the work, reciting original bush poetry to a very appreciative audience – later telling project producer Suzannah Jones it was one of the best days he’d had at Tocal Homestead.
“Most importantly, Bob and Dave liked the work,” Jones said. “This was what I was concerned about the most.” Having spent time working with the Skelton brothers – Dave, who tended the Tocal forge for thirty years, and Bob, his twin, the poet and striker – ensuring the finished piece honoured their legacy was always the project’s measure of success.
Jonathan Burrows’ cinematography / video art and Huw Jones’ sound design – including sampled recordings of hammer and anvil transformed into bell tones – were widely praised, as were the bells themselves, created during community workshops earlier this year with Will Maguire at the Tocal forge, suspended within the installation space, and sampled in turn for the soundscape. The footage also featured workshop participants themselves, woven into the finished piece.
The talk itself drew on themes of authenticity, craft and reconnection to land – ideas that emerged organically through the project’s development, including a small, unplanned lesson in “making do”: when printing issues left the promotional flyers too dark, Jones simply drew over them by hand rather than starting again. “There are so many layers to this project,” Jones reflected. “I only realised how much when I went to write about it.”
Bush poetry, often seen today as something of a novelty, emerged through this project as something far more significant – a way of evoking connection to land, animals, blacksmithing and the elements. This wasn’t an original intention of the project; it surfaced through interviews with the Skelton brothers themselves. At its heart, Forged Rhythms sets out to evoke what it means to be a blacksmith, and the loss of authenticity many feel in the modern world – a loss that has sparked a quiet revival in old crafts, as people search for that connection again. Throughout the piece, technology is used not to obscure that past, but to reveal it.
With the premiere behind her, Jones now turns to the project’s funding acquittal, and to exploring touring opportunities – Forged Rhythms, it seems, deserves to be seen again.
Forged Rhythms is a project by Suzannah Jones and is supported by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, administered through Regional Arts Australia and Regional Arts NSW.
Photo still from the Forged Rhythms installation in the Milk Room at Tocal Homestead.
Subject of image: Stephen Gale of the Artist Blacksmiths Association of NSW.
Footage/imagery by Jonathan Burrows.
Photograph of the installation taken by Huw Jones.