SCULPTORS
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When you walk into the workshop of Michael Dillon, your senses come alive. On the ground beside the door several steel skulls stare up at visitors. Before you enter the thirty-foot high metal building, your ears are hammered by the sounds of immense machines bludgeoning steel into future handrails. Once inside, you see rows of tools for working steel and bronze, many of them the tools you might expect in a forge. But only feet away are devices that might be left over from a medieval torture chamber. They are, however, tools of blacksmith creativity. Levers to curve, machines to pull hot metal and giant presses that turn flat steel into wings.
It feels both industrial and ancient in this space. The thoughts of Michael as he creates are much the same as a blacksmith working in the time of Caesar, during the days of Egyptian dominance, or in the long ago years of the first person to change metal into utility and beauty.
Dillon’s efforts to transform hard steel and bronze into works that engage the mind and heart make him, and his art, local treasures we can all admire.
— Mike Buchanan
Dillon Forge is a blacksmith shop owned and operated by Michael Dillon, located in Milton, Georgia - just north of Atlanta. Michael has more than twenty-five years experience producing both functional and non-representational metal sculptures. He creates railings, furniture, and sculpture primarily forged from iron. He also works with bronze, aluminum, stainless steel, and carved stone. As a graduate of Kansas City Art Institute, his methods stem from a strong background in fine art sculpture with an emphasis on design. He has worked with people from many different backgrounds, from building very personal memorial sculptures for Hospice Atlanta to large commercial projects, such as the Arthur Blank Family Foundation monumental stair. As well monumental public sculptures for the city of Charlotte, NC and Nashville, TN.
Michael considers his art as being very personal, “It’s part of me. It’s a part of my soul.” he says. Architectural elements for businesses and residential sites are his forte and therefore are seen only by the people who commission him. Dillon states that he prefers public art to privately. “It doesn’t mean anything to me to just keep it. It means more to me to give it away and I have more enjoyment seeing other people enjoy it than to just have it (here at my shop).”
— Ben Hollingsworth
"My goal is to create a visual dialogue with each client that will result in highly crafted works of art. I enjoy the collaborative process and feel that the ongoing exchange with architects, clients and builders enhance and strengthen my work." Throughout a project, Michael generates concept drawings, scale drawings and sample models to further the understanding of the project for both the artist and the client.
The ability to create works of art from two genres, the functional and sculptural, offers endless possibilities to strengthen and enhance a space. "Heating metal red hot allows me to control the material in its briefly malleable state to create fluid and graceful structures."
Using large industrial forging hammers, Michael imparts power and force onto the surface of the material, captured for a life span of centuries. The functional work is integrated into the architecture, being attentive to the design and scope of the project. Sculptural work becomes part of an interior or exterior landscape, interacting with its environment; the light, weather and human activity. It can be a powerful controlling essence of a large-scale kinetic sculpture embracing its environment or a simple table top adornment. Often the lines between function and sculpture are blurred.
Michael Dillon forges a relationship with each client to bring forth a collaborative vision for highly crafted works of art.
It feels both industrial and ancient in this space. The thoughts of Michael as he creates are much the same as a blacksmith working in the time of Caesar, during the days of Egyptian dominance, or in the long ago years of the first person to change metal into utility and beauty.
Dillon’s efforts to transform hard steel and bronze into works that engage the mind and heart make him, and his art, local treasures we can all admire.
— Mike Buchanan
Dillon Forge is a blacksmith shop owned and operated by Michael Dillon, located in Milton, Georgia - just north of Atlanta. Michael has more than twenty-five years experience producing both functional and non-representational metal sculptures. He creates railings, furniture, and sculpture primarily forged from iron. He also works with bronze, aluminum, stainless steel, and carved stone. As a graduate of Kansas City Art Institute, his methods stem from a strong background in fine art sculpture with an emphasis on design. He has worked with people from many different backgrounds, from building very personal memorial sculptures for Hospice Atlanta to large commercial projects, such as the Arthur Blank Family Foundation monumental stair. As well monumental public sculptures for the city of Charlotte, NC and Nashville, TN.
Michael considers his art as being very personal, “It’s part of me. It’s a part of my soul.” he says. Architectural elements for businesses and residential sites are his forte and therefore are seen only by the people who commission him. Dillon states that he prefers public art to privately. “It doesn’t mean anything to me to just keep it. It means more to me to give it away and I have more enjoyment seeing other people enjoy it than to just have it (here at my shop).”
— Ben Hollingsworth
"My goal is to create a visual dialogue with each client that will result in highly crafted works of art. I enjoy the collaborative process and feel that the ongoing exchange with architects, clients and builders enhance and strengthen my work." Throughout a project, Michael generates concept drawings, scale drawings and sample models to further the understanding of the project for both the artist and the client.
The ability to create works of art from two genres, the functional and sculptural, offers endless possibilities to strengthen and enhance a space. "Heating metal red hot allows me to control the material in its briefly malleable state to create fluid and graceful structures."
Using large industrial forging hammers, Michael imparts power and force onto the surface of the material, captured for a life span of centuries. The functional work is integrated into the architecture, being attentive to the design and scope of the project. Sculptural work becomes part of an interior or exterior landscape, interacting with its environment; the light, weather and human activity. It can be a powerful controlling essence of a large-scale kinetic sculpture embracing its environment or a simple table top adornment. Often the lines between function and sculpture are blurred.
Michael Dillon forges a relationship with each client to bring forth a collaborative vision for highly crafted works of art.
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MICHAEL DILLON - Michael has more than twenty years experience producing both functional and non-representational metal sculptures. He creates railings, furniture, and sculpture primarily forged from iron. He also works with bronze, aluminum, stainless steel, and carved stone. As a graduate of Kansas City Art Institute, his methods stem from a strong background in fine art sculpture with an emphasis on design. He has worked with people from many different backgrounds, from building very personal memorial sculptures for Hospice Atlanta to large commercial projects, such as the Arthur Blank Family Foundation monumental stair. As well monumental public sculptures for the city of Charlotte, NC and Nashville, TN. Michael owns and operates Dillon Forge blacksmithing shop in Crabapple. For more information, visit http://www.dillonforge.com/
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