The Blacksmtih Triumvirate is an international collaboration of award winning, contemporary blacksmiths brought together by their love of forging metal. In the fashion of a true Triumvirate, Hunter Dahlberg, Anton Yakushev, and Kellen Bateham will be collaborating together as equals; each one bringing their own expertise and experience to the project. Each has made their mark on the metalworking community through collaborations, education, volunteer work, and competitions. All three are previous Oregon Winterfest Fire Sculpture Competition winners who have their submissions on permanent display in Central Oregon.
Hunter Dahlberg has been creating unique sculptures from steel for nearly two decades. Dahlberg is based in Bend, Oregon and owner of Orion Forge, a fully equipped blacksmith and fabrication shop established in 2004. The shop produces a wide range of custom sculpture and architectural ironwork for residential and commercial clients.
Work at Orion Forge centers around the blacksmithing forge, which provides the ability to heat steel to white hot. Steel heated to these temperatures loses its stubborn and recalcitrant nature and becomes cooperative, allowing the smith to move it into original and artistic forms. Styles of work range from traditional to contemporary, with inspiration often coming from the natural world.
Anton Yakushev is a metal artist and blacksmith from Kolomna, Russia has become an internationally known and respected metal artist. He studied Fine Arts at the State Pedagogical University in Kolomna (Moscow region, Russia) where he trained under Mikhail Abakumov (the People's Artist of the Russian Federation). Regularly invited by museums, art schools, and professional art communities, Anton conducts educational programs on metal sculpture in the United States and internationally.
His artwork is present in the permanent collection of the National Ornamental Metal Museum in Tennessee, US and in private collections and galleries in Europe and the USA.
A blacksmith from Bend, Oregon, Kellen Bateham has been living in the PNW his entire life and has been forging metal for the better part of 15 years. In that time he has worked extensively with Hunter Dahlberg at Orion Forge on projects and collaborations that have ranged from large-‐scale fire sculpture to community based public art. His solo work is often focused around the improbable and whimsical through scale, color, and anthropomorphism.
Though Kellen works primarily on custom architectural ironwork he also dedicates much of his time to education based non-‐profits in the greater NW and is currently the President of the Northwest Blacksmith Association. In this recent role, has planned and hosted nearly 50 Digital Demos with metalworkers from across the US and internationally since March 2020 including ones from Canada, Russia, Brazil, Spain, and Ghana as a means to keep the metal arts world connected during the pandemic.
