'Educating artisans': American College of the Building Arts lets public see what it does

Aislinn Lewis tried her hand at blacksmithing when she was a teenager, figuring it would be fun hobby.

Now she wants it to be her career.

The northern Virginian attends the American College of the Building Arts, based at the Old Charleston Jail on Magazine Street.

The 23-year-old is in her third year at the four-year college, and her life is on course for being a professional blacksmith with a liberal arts education.

Blacksmithing "is the perfect combination of trade and art," she said. "You can get out there and exert yourself, but on the other hand still design and create beautiful things."

On Saturday, Lewis was among the students, teachers and expert craftsmen gathered at the college's Master of the Building Arts Festival.

The event, which has taken place at the college every year or so since its creation, featured some of the best master craftsmen and craftswomen in the United States, with hands-on displays of their work on the lawn between the jail and its exterior walls.

Some of the artisans included local woodcarver Mary May, decorative gilder and painter Susan Marion, stone carver Clint Button II, blacksmith Richard Sargent and carpenter Peter Post.

Many came to Charleston several days before the festival to offer their expertise to the college's students and staff.

College President Colby Broadwater said the festival also is an effort to show area residents, many of whom still don't know about the college, the array of professional skills being taught at the school, including ironwork, masonry, plastering, stone carving, carpentry and timber setting, along with liberal arts subjects.

"We are educating artisans," Broadwater said. "This is important because you can make anything, but if you don't know why you're making it, or how you're making it, or how you make it better or more beautiful, then there's something missing. ... Our graduates run the entire spectrum from the person doing the work to the person who designed the work."

Richard Burn, a supporter of the school from Virginia, has recognized the need and worked toward the creation of a trades college for nearly 40 years. He said the importance of educated tradesmen and women was recognized long before the schools were developed in Europe centuries ago.

"You go back to Roman times and Vitruvius pointed out the need for two different kinds of people to build things: homo faber, or 'man the creator,' and homo mechanicus, or 'man the mechanic.' We want to turn out homo faber -- people who can create and bring visual excitement to our buildings again."

And while the school is still fledgling -- it has 35 students but a capacity of 200 -- it already is making a difference, sending out graduates such as plasterer John Cody Donahue and blacksmith Drew Reynolds.

Both already have worked on major jobs around the country, are committed to the mission of craftsmanship, and still seem to have a loyalty to the college and Charleston.