Christina Sporrong
Artist, Blacksmith, Teacher

1990 Rhode Island School of Design, Providence,
Rhode Island
1992 Parsons School of Design, New York City.
Bachelor of Fine Art

I was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1969, and spent the first half of my life living in Europe and Asia. I graduated from the American School in Paris, France and moved to the United states to pursue a career in the arts. While I was in New York I met sculptor Linus Coraggio who showed me how to work in steel. Learning how to weld and forge completely changed my focus from editorial illustration and photography to sculpture. Working with metal became my passion. After graduating from Parsons I moved to Seattle, Washington and enrolled in an independent study program in steel sculpture at Pratt Fine Arts. At this time my work became more three dimensional, combining paint, photography, glass, fabric and steel.

When I moved to Taos, New Mexico in 1996 I opened my own metal shop and forge. Spitfire Forge was born, and became my business venture. To de-mystify metal and empower other women with this medium I started teaching workshops. I have held many local Women’s Welding Workshops since 1996 in addition to annual national courses. I normally flee the cold Taos winters for San Francisco, where I work at The Crucible, a metal arts education center in Oakland.

My work focuses on textures derived from using the forge. Forged steel has a bold and dimensional visual effect. I feel that it reflects beauty on a simple and core level, much like all the different textures existing in nature, which are my inspiration. I am playing with the subtle variations in texture, color and in the elements to explore the parallels that exist between nature untouched and the surroundings we have created.

Recently I have become very inspired by kinetic art. I completed my first kinetic piece this summer called Nine Beating Hearts. It incorporates forged steel and machining techniques to create nine clinking heartbeats. It showed at the Women Do Iron show in Aztec, NM and at the 2005 LA Arts Fest.