Michael Route
medium: metalwork
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Contact information
114 Wisconsin Avenue N
Frederic, WI 54837
Phone Number: 715-371-0034
Email Address: mike@redironstudios.com
Web site: www.redironstudios.com
Artist statement
In a small town in the big woods of northern Wisconsin, I swing my hammer. I’m a local boy who moved back to my hometown to follow my dream of opening my own studio. In the studio I create custom, decorative and sculptural pieces of ironwork. Each design is drawn out by hand, and each piece is unique, reveling the blows of my own hammer. I try to push my own limits as well as that of the materials. The iron is worked hot, heated to 2000 degrees, it moves like clay. The sweat, the dirt and grime, the ringing of the anvil, the studio is the war zone. It’s a battle between letting the metal do what it wants and forcing it to do what I want. I always win, and the prize is the final piece.
Biography
Each day I work out of my studio in my hometown of Frederic, Wisconsin. I carefully and individually handcraft each piece of steel to create my final product. The process entails manipulating every inch of the steel’s original form. I love that I can take a raw piece of material and transform it into something aesthetically pleasing and useful.