Access + opportunity + creativity changes lives.

In 2018, I created an opportunity for myself to train with a master goldsmith in Senegal.  I literally woke up one morning and heard a voice say “you’re going to spend your birthday in Dakar!” Heeding this directive, I got online to start to look for opportunities to take classes and found none.  A friend offered to reach out to some folks to see if a group could be come together and support my quest.  The first person on our private, online meeting group was a native Senegalese man who has been teaching in the US for years.  His first response to the query was “does she know that we have a saying in Senegal that ‘women don’t wield the hammer’?”  I admitted that I didn’t and when he asked if it mattered, I said it didn’t, that I was called there and was committed.  His response was “good!” and within 18 hours, I had been connected with a master goldsmith who was willing to teach me traditional techniques, I had an apartment to rent and the names of three ex-pats who spoke English and were encouraging and as excited as I.    

The original apprenticeship lasted 6 weeks and I was instructed to come back for a 6-month stay; I returned within 4 months. The time in Senegal, learning at the hands of a third generation goldsmith and his brilliant apprentice/son was life changing.  One of those changes came in the form of a small girl who used to watch me daily, incredulous because she had never seen a woman doing this work; now that she has, she can envision herself doing the work because representation is a powerful thing.  But who will teach her?  One of the many times I looked at her face, at her curious, inquisitive eyes, I realized that the thing that called me to Senegal was to create a program that will teach young girls and women this vocation.  Quite simply, that’s how We Wield the Hammer was born.

The program incubated here in Oakland in early 2019 and was housed at the Crucible, an industrial arts school located in West Oakland where I am a faculty member. The program was conceived to identify, train, track and support young women and girls of African descent in becoming skilled at metal fabrication.

The program introduces students to the basics of creating with precious metals, basic design and completion of several projects using skills taught over the course of 8-week sessions. Classes meet weekly and the program is offered 4 times a year, once per season.  We are proud to have been able to offer the course in 2019 as well as in 2020 before COVID shut down access in person gathering. 

As our program has grown, we have begun the task of acquiring our own studio space, for both expansion and autonomy.  While the hunt continues for affordable, accessible space in Oakland, we’re happy to say that we have extended our program to Durham, NC and expect to move into our new space there in Summer, 2022. And as we look towards the future – life after COVID and SIP – our program can finally extend to Senegal; we are looking to 2023 to break ground there.   

 I have always paid attention to the little voice that instructs me to move or stop, to open or close; I believe it comes from my ancestors as well as the artists who have inspired and influenced me.  That voice those many, many months ago led me to my calling; WWTH, I believe, is a part of the rent that I pay to live on the planet.  In many ways, I take a non-traditional approach to creating and teaching and even the way I live.  I have had the privilege of both formal education and apprenticeship and my own art is constantly evolving and brings me quite a bit of joy.  But, I am in agreement with the extraordinary Augusta Savage, sculptor, arts educator and artistic revolutionary: 

I have created nothing really beautiful, really lasting, but if I can inspire one of these youngsters to develop the talent I know they possess, then my monument will be in their work. 

 I hope you will join me on this path.