2019 TRADITIONAL ARTS APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM: BOB ALEXANDER AND LISA THOMPSON
With this final 2019 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship team profile, we introduce you to blacksmith Robert (Bob) Alexander, a second-time TAAP master artist, and his new apprentice. This year, Alexander, of DeSoto, Mo., teamed up with Lisa Thompson, who lives about forty miles away in Ste. Genevieve. Like most of the blacksmiths who have participated in TAAP, Alexander and Thompson are both active members of the Blacksmith Association of Missouri (BAM!).
Master blacksmith Bob Alexander watches as apprentice Lisa Thompson works. Photo by Deborah A. Bailey
Bob Alexander is a master artist with over a quarter century of experience, though he tells us that he came to the blacksmithing tradition as an adult. Previously, he enjoyed a career in woodworking and carpentry that was inspired by his high school wood shop instructor. Now a full-time blacksmith at Scrub Oak Forge , Alexander forges restoration hardware for historic homes, creates custom pieces for contemporary homes, makes tools for tradespeople and knives for hunters, as well as more artistic pieces, like the sculpture pictured below.
A fish sculpted by Bob Alexander. Photo by Lisa L. Higgins
Folklorists often ask: “From whom did you learn the tradition?” In fact, MFAP includes a version of that question in its TAAP application for both the master artist and the proposed apprentice. In Alexander’s answer, he outlined a tree of learning with deep roots and strong branches, starting by giving special credit to Missouri blacksmiths like the late Tom Clark of Potosi, Mo, Bob Patrick, and the late Doug “Iron Man” Hendrickson, as well as noting the influences of Uri Hofi (Israel), Clay Spencer (AL), Joe Miller (NC), and Jerry Darnell (NC).
Bob Alexander may be as dedicated to teaching as he is to making. He presents workshops at blacksmith clubs, volunteers with the BAM demonstration team, instructs YMCA counselors and Boy Scouts, and often teaches at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina. In an upcoming Campbell Folk School course, he will teach “Making Useful Items from Junk.” Alexander is also teaching “Learn to Play a Dobro;” he’s a Bob of many trades. These last several months, Lisa Thompson has worked hard under Alexander’s tutelage to perfect her joinery.
Thompson tells us that she spent nearly twenty years in an aluminum and magnesium factory, which eventually led her to blacksmithing; the plant where she worked assembled valve covers for Ford. “I always loved the process of taking metal and turning it into a completely different and functioning part.” In 2016, she left factory work to apprentice as a farrier; by the spring of 2018, Thompson purchased her own coal forge and anvil. Then, she joined BAM. Even before applying for TAAP with Alexander, Thompson was working at her forge daily and visiting Alexander’s Scrub Oak Forge weekly, leaving each week with homework. In the apprenticeship, Alexander noted in their lesson plan that Thompson would fine tune her forge welding, tenoning, slot punching, drifting, riveting, tapering, and scroll form. And, she would also learn the essential (and advanced) task of creating a life-sized template of her final product–a sign for her blacksmithing business (initial draft pictured below).
Sketch of business sign. Image courtesy of the team.