Tom Joyce and I have an appointment for an interview and a photo session. With two other friends we set off by car for the shop that he has built himself on the prairie pine barrens eight miles outside of Santa Fe and finally find it at the end of a winding country road. The adobe building welcomes us with a cheerful bright blue metal roof. You notice immediately that this isn't just a place where objects are produced. It's apparent that an equal value is placed on the cultural dimension and on the development of the craft.
Visitors are confronted with new sources of stimulation everywhere they turn.
You just know that the person who works in this space is a contrarian of sorts, pursuing a path of attentiveness and reflection in an era of haste and superficiality. He pulls a glowing piece of iron out of the gas forge, puts it into the press and drives it into a specially prepared block of wood. The resulting impressions will later be cleaned up with a brush and will become elements of a sculpture in which the wood impressions will echo the matching forged steel forms. Tom is always good for a surprise. His creative impulse led him to drop out of school at age 16 and devote himself entirely to the craft of smithing.