Susan Madacsi works with steel in the traditional forging manor of a blacksmith. When steel is heated to forging temperatures around 2200 degrees it can be manipulated in the same ways as clay. In this new body of work, Madacsi has been exploring and pushing the plasticity of the material. Large thick bars are forged and cut into many smaller manageable pieces and re-assembled into forms. The vessels’ surfaces are then treated as if a palette.

Madacsi applies enamel paint and uses a variety of techniques to distress the surface. The result is an interpretation of a contemporary form that suggests architecture, stone, and an attempt to capture entropy. By using pigment Madacsi is able to emphasize the many textures that evolve from forging. Although steel is usually first thought of as an industrial material, Madacsi draws attention to our connection with it on a human level, by creating objects that reveal organic forms.