The Metal Arts Guild (MAG) is an independent, non-profit, educational organization
of people who are skilled, interested, or share in the production and exhibition of metals.
Our Community
Everyone is welcome to join: from the beginner to the master craftsperson, teachers and students, metal arts collectors and more. Each member is a vital part of making the Guild work for our community.
We support the work of outstanding metal artists by organizing exhibitions, lectures, and workshops, awarding an annual MAG Community Project Grant, various student scholarships, and offering resources and opportunities for our members.
Featured Member
Each month a new Featured Member is chosen from the completed member profiles on our website. Their interview and work is highlighted on our blog and social media. Visit our archive of past Featured Members.
October 2018
Gregg Hessel
Website: hesselstudios.com
Instagram: Hesselstudios
Tell us a little about yourself.
I was raised in a creatively driven family by an artist/craftsmen father who taught furniture making, and a collector mother who was a crafts historian and collector of 19th century handmade American crafts. I was immersed in a world of craft and the art of making from an early age. It was quite a childhood.
I have studied, over the years, many forms of art and worked professionally in several crafts from metal sculpture to jewelry. I found my true passion in coppersmithing and the forms that I could make with copper. Because there are few coppersmiths today, I am mostly self-taught. The last time the art of copper as a medium was popular was in the early 1900’s during the Arts and Crafts period. This movement was especially strong here in the San Francisco Bay area and I am part of this continuum, keeping coppersmthing, as an art form alive in California. I am presently working with the Dirk Van Erp Foundation and Museum in Alameda to bring knowledge of this craft back to the present. Forming copper with a hammer is something that every craftsman should experience at least once in their life.