Events Gallery

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Click on an image to view a slideshow of pictures from each event.

Fire Arts Festivals®

Fire Ballets™

Fire Operas™


Theatrical Events

Fire & Light Soirées

Friday Night Events

Open Houses

Volunteer Appreciation Party

Events Gallery2018-03-15T13:15:54-07:00

Dracul: Prince of Fire – 2009 Fire Ballet

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The Crucible Story of Dracul: Prince of Fire
This is a crafted turn of events that brought about the start of the vampire legend, based on the actual 15th century historical character who belonged to the Order of the Dragon, a military group that fought the Ottoman Empire. In Romanian he was referred to as Dracul, meaning dragon. Dracul was the father of Vlad Tepes the Impaler, more commonly known as Dracula. The name Dracula means: “Son of Dracul”.The story begins with Dracul exploring the dark outer regions of his land. He encounters something both monstrous and magnificent and is attacked. He feels strange fiery venom coursing through his body as it dies. But he is not dead. Dracul awakes infused with a strange power…as a burning desire for blood grows within him. Applying his new-found abilities to an industrial use; he gains great power from building and creating with fire.

As Dracul is building his industrial empire, a pair of young lovers seeks shelter from a storm in Dracul’s factory. They text a friend for help, but things turn dark quickly when Dracul’s workers torment them and Dracul falls deeply for the young girl. Trying to flee they are joined by a slayer. A fiery battle begins, but he vanishes in a thunderclap. The slayer and two lovers escape.

The friend of the young lovers, Lucy, enters the castle looking for them. Dracul can’t resist Lucy and lures her into his aerie to feed upon her. The young lovers find their friend apparently dead, they begin to mourn her but soon realize that she has been transformed into Nosferatu: the undead. The slayer comes to their rescue and fights the vampire, driving a stake through her once-pure heart. As the young girl mourns her friend Lucy, Dracul descends on her.

The young man tries to rescue his love, but he realizes she is no longer his innocent young maid. He must kill her, even if it breaks his heart. Dracul cannot accept that his undying love is now dead and seeks to bring her back to life; using his powers of fire and creativity, he revives her. As they celebrate with a macabre dance, the young man and slayer appear to put an end to Dracul and all he has created. After a monumental battle, two figures walk off into the sunrise, and the legend begins . . .

The Music:
In 1997 Northern Ballet Theatre commissioned Philip Feeney to create an ballet score based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. We here at The Crucible found the innovative and inspirational score he created to be perfect for our original fire ballet: Dracul, Prince of Fire. As often happens in ballet theater, music director Scott Sterling has made adjustments in this great work in order to best merge it with the talents of our performers. Following in Crucible tradition, he has added a modernized cultural; retrofit within the score that we

Dracul: Prince of Fire – 2009 Fire Ballet2018-03-15T13:08:11-07:00

Events at The Crucible

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Since 1999, The Crucible has produced a wide variety of events ranging from fundraisers to operas to community open houses. Maintaining collaborations with highly-trained craft and industrial artists, our goal is to reach far and wide into as well as beyond our community to make memorable annual as well as once-in-a-lifetime events.

In the past we have hosted or produced the well-known Fire Arts Festival® and numerous Fire Ballets & Fire Operas. Our currently line-up of annual events include the Fireside Lounge series and our Fall and Spring Open Houses. For a list of current planned events, please refer to our Upcoming Events page.

At The Crucible, people come together to share skills, and forge objects and friendships. In a world filled with automated technology, The Crucible offers adult and youth students alike a chance to get their hands dirty and make useful or artful objects themselves, from scratch, and from start to finish — and our events are wonderful opportunity to see whats been going on in these times. Please join us!

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Newsletter Dec 08

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Class Highlights
Last Chance for Fall Classes
Holiday Taster Workshops
Winter Schedule is Here!

Hot New Classes for Winter
Events
Holiday Gifty Art Sale & Open House
10th Anniversary Fire Ballet Fundraiser

The Crucible Recommends
The Crucible Holiday Gift Guide
Plasma Nation – Float Gallery
Celebrating Craftwomen
Girls Welding Reception

Faculty Focus
Tara Murray – Glass Flameworking

Ways to Give the Gift of Art
eScrip
eBay Giving Works Program

Join The Crucible Community
Call for Instructors
Volunteering

CLASS HIGHLIGHTS
Last Chance for Fall Classes

Calling all fire eaters – here’s a chance to refine your skill and learn new performance techniques from Kristina Cañizares, founder of The Nekyia and veteran performer of many legendary Crucible shows.  Fire Eating & Beyond intensive workshop runs December 13-14th.

Learn the ceramic Art of Raku at a weekend intensive workshop December 6-7th.  Bring in your own completed bisque fired pieces and find out how to use organic materials and fire to create incredible surface textures using this exciting process.


Raku Fired Ceramic Piece
by artist Kathleen Fernald

 


Get a taste of fire at our Holiday Taster Workshops

Where else can you learn a specialized skill and create a unique piece of art in just three hours? There are still some slots available, but register now to be sure you get into the class you want. Workshops run December 6-7th and would make a great early holiday gift or get you started on making gifts of your own.  Choose morning or afternoon classes in blacksmithing, sand casting, glass fusing or flameworking, jewelry making, and resin casting.

{Click Here to Learn More}


 

Winter Class Schedule – Hot off the press!

Crucible Members can register now for classes; open registration begins November 25th. If you haven’t received your schedule in the mail, look for it at your favorite pick-up spots around the Bay Area or download a copy here.

CHECK OUT THESE HOT NEW CLASSES!

Five new classes have been added this winter:

CERAMICS

Creative Clay Exploration for Parent & Child (3-5 Years)
Feb 11- Apr 1 | Wednesdays | 3 – 4PM | with Tachina Rudman
Enjoy this special time together as you gently explore the world of clay using art and fun simple movements.

Newsletter Dec 082018-03-08T14:27:37-08:00

Newsletter Nov 08

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Class Highlights
Family Fun Weekend
Fun Fall Classes

Holiday Taster Workshops
Youth Programs
Youth Weekend Intensives
Girls Welding
Bike Frame Alteration

Events
Holiday Gifty Art Sale & Open House
10th Anniversary Fire Ballet

Crucible News
Arts Funding Saved
Must-See TV

The Crucible Recommends
The Perfect Holiday Gift
Radical Jewelry Makeover Exhibition
E-Scrip

Faculty Focus
Warren – Glass Cold Working

Join The Crucible Community
Call for Instructors
Volunteering

CLASS HIGHLIGHTS
The last Family Fun Weekend of the year is
November 22nd & 23rd.
Several of these beginning intensive classes remain where you and a family member can learn something new and for making gifts of your own.   Remember, when you sign up together, one family member receives discounted tuition.

Glass Flameworking
Working over an open flame you’ll create marbles, pendants and more

Intro to Jewelry & Metals
Experiment with different techniques and make a sterling silver ring

Woodturning
Discover the lathe and how you can turn a piece of wood into a beautiful bowl.

{Sign Up Now}

 


Sign Up for Fall Classes Before They’re Gone!

The days may be getting shorter, and the weather a bit nippier, but it’s always hot here at The Crucible, and there are still some fall session classes where you can experience the excitement of creating.  You’ll find day, evening and weekend classes; the hardest part is choosing which area you want to work in:

Light:
Intro to Neon, Demystifying the Light Emiting Diode (LED),
EL-Wire Workshop

Metal:
Beginning TIG, Intro to MIG, Intro to Welded Sculpture

Clay:
Sculpting in Clay, Classical Clay Portraiture

Jewelry:
Intro to Cast Resin and Silver Jewelry, Bead Casting

Glass:
Core Vessel Forming, Cold Working Glass, Fusing & Slumping, Kiln-Cast Glass

 


For those with commitment issues . . . Holiday Taster Workshops

Not sure you want to spend 5 weeks pounding mental or melting glass?  You can learn basic techniques and create a unique piece of art in just three hours.  Choose from Blacksmithing, Glass Flameworking, Glass Fusing, Jewelry, MIG Welding, Resin Casting or Sand Casting.   Morning and afternoon Holiday Tasters run December 6th and 7th, 10AM –

Newsletter Nov 082018-03-15T14:02:28-07:00

Newsletter Aug 08

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Still Time For Summer Fun
Family Fun Weekends
Get Fired Up For Fall
Download our new catalog and schedule
Fall Registration Begins

Mark Your Calendar – Upcoming Events
Fall Community Open House
Design Within Reach
American Craft Show
Holiday Gifty Art Sale & Open House

News & Updates
Call for Artists & Vendors for Holiday Gifty
The Crucible Gets Even More Accessible
Old Jewelry Gets New Life for a Good Cause
2008 Fire Arts Festival Recap
Faculty Focus

Still Time For Summer Fun!

Family Fun Weekends
August 16-17th and August 23-24th

Youth summer camps at The Crucible are running at near full capacity, but you can still have a great weekend with your family exploring and learning new things together – like how to make a welded sculpture for your yard, jewelry of your own design, a glass ornament, or an illuminated sculpture.

{Click Here to Learn More}

 

Get Fired Up For Fall

 

Download the new Course Catalog
and Fall Schedule today!

Open registration begins August 7th; classes begin September 22nd. Crucible members can register NOW for fall classes! If you haven’t received your new catalog and fall class schedule in the mail, you can find it on line, at your favorite pick-up spot throughout the Bay Area, or drop by The Crucible to pick one up.  Check out all the great classes on tap for 2008-2009, and plan for fall fun.

If you have previous experience in Blacksmithing, and an interest in sword making or medieval arts, you’ll appreciate our exciting fall classes in Bladesmithing (September 22nd) and Medieval Helmet Making with Tom Hugenin (October 4th).   Those with experience in Jewelry can participate in the three-day Radical Jewelry Makeover Project, and help transform old unused jewelry into new designs that will be sold to benefit mining reform efforts that will decrease mining waste.

If you’ve never had experience with fire, glass or metal before, no problem – there are tons of classes where you can give it a try – whether you just want to dabble for a day or weekend, or totally immerse yourself for weeks. Classes in our schedule marked with the gear symbol qualify for our

Newsletter Aug 082018-03-15T13:58:06-07:00

The Crucible Collection Benefit Art Auction

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Champagne Reception and Silent Auction
Thursday, April 8th, 6:30pm – 8:30pm

Organized with a sharp eye on the future, The Crucible Collection presented 10 contemporary artworks by some of the most renowned visual artists working today.

This outstanding auction offering included sculptures in bronze and steel by internationally renowned artists Beverly Pepper and Albert Paley, as well as works by nationally acclaimed artists Bruce Beasley, Bella Feldman, Michael Hayden, Preston Jackson, Susan Kingsley, John Lewis, Randy Strong, and William Wareham.

 

 

“This important fundraiser will help to continue our programs like the Legends of Sculpture series that introduced many of the collection’s artists to our educational facility and its unique commitment to sculpture and the industrial arts. We are deeply thankful for the artists’ contributions and their belief in our mission.”

Michael Sturtz, Founder and Executive Director of The Crucible

 

The public was invited to preview The Crucible Collection in person at A New Leaf Gallery / Sculpturesite in Berkeley through April 2, 2004 (scuplturesite.com). Silent Auction bids were accepted during previews, although bidders were encouraged to attend the reception to ensure success.

The Crucible Collection Silent Auction and Champagne Reception is made possible by the
generous support of the following co-sponsors:
A New Leaf Gallery/Sculpturesite
The International Sculpture Center
The Oakland Museum of California

 

The Crucible Collection Art

 

Bruce Beasley’s interests in natural science and technology inspire him to construct dynamic sculptures that simultaneously expand into and envelop space. He achieves this through the repetitive use of planar crystalline forms acting as building blocks for the complex structures. His conceptions and designs are aided by a sophisticated, three-dimensional computer program that enables him to experiment with variations of an idea before actually building the components.

 

Bella Feldman’s deeply philosophical work challenges the viewer to shift their affiliations with familiar objects and icons. In her biological and mechanical works there is a persistent message of interconnectedness and a fierce yet formal beauty that is testament to the artist’s passion and skill. Feldman has participated in over fifty solo exhibitions including showings at The Oakland Museum of California, San Jose Museum of Art, the Fresno Art Museum and the Downey Museum and group shows in all parts of the US and in Switzerland.

 

For more than 30 years, Michael Hayden, has explored light as a medium, and it remains the most important and unifying component in his “Lumetric” sculptures. His work includes architectonic sculptures for public spaces, including “The Sky’s the Limit”, a monumental illuminated neon installation in the United Airlines Terminal at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, IL. Hayden collaborates with architects, designers, engineers, landscape architects, technicians, composers, poets, and other artists to create works that are large in scale and massive in scope, often measuring hundreds
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Dido and Aeneas – 2004 Fire Opera

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The Crucible Celebrates its Fifth Anniversary in Style
with a Fire Opera

The roar of the furnace, the hush of the crowd: hundreds of faces turn towards the flickering candle held by Katherine Rohrer as she prepares to fill The Crucible’s cavernous interior with her powerful, heart-wrenching voice. So began Dido and Aeneas, The Crucible’s Fire Opera.

Katherine Rohrer is one of the four opera soloists who left the luxury of the San Francisco Opera House to brave the bridge cranes, scissor lifts, molten metal, fire dancers, fork lifts and other sharp objects featured in the production’s revolutionary staging. The Crucible employed its unique resources to turn this baroque masterpiece, originally written by Henry Purcell in 1689 for a convent girl’s school, into a passionate, fiery spectacle that riveted even the youngest, hippest audience members to their seats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The story follows Dido, Queen of Carthage, who forsakes her royal obligations out of love for the Trojan hero Aeneas. When he abandons her after one night of ardor she cannot bear the heartbreak and impales herself on his spear. Purcell rendered the drama in delicate arias and choral laments, exquisitely performed by the four soloists and the well-known early music ensemble American Bach Soloists, conducted Jeffrey Thomas.

The Crucible added texture to the tragedy, weaving elements of the school’s daily activities into the fabric of the tale. Glassworkers and welders depicted the industry of Carthage, while fireplay and the flying sparks of a grinder represented the mad descent into passion. The stage too was a work of art—no velvet curtains here. The area usually occupied by The Crucible’s metal shop became a custom-built seventy-five foot panoramic stage with an orchestra pit in the middle, flanked by installations from Bay Area sculptors Michael Christian and Kiki Pettit. Set before a row of red welding screens and the boxy metallic arches of the ventilation system, the impression was one of an industrial fairytale.

 

 

 
Produced and designed by The Crucible’s own Michael Sturtz, and directed by San Francisco Opera Associate Director Roy Rallo, the entire production was a collaboration between artistic genres that would scarcely nod as they passed each other in the street, much less work side by side. Yet the result was an original performance where contrasts became compliments and the performers were just as invigorated as the audience.

“It was a terrific experience,” said Ms. Rohrer, “the arts truly combined to enlighten and project

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Illuminated Sculpture – Ohlone

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Illuminated Sculpture from the Crucible

Showing at The Louie Art Gallery, Ohlone College
43600 Mission Boulevard, Fremont CA

January 29 through February 27, 2004

A growing art form, Illuminated Sculpture From The Crucible represented 18 of the Bay Area’s most innovative artists. Curated by The Crucible’s own Christian Schiess, Head of the Neon Department, this exhibit explored of a variety of artistic disciplines, from welding to neon, foundry to found art. The opening reception on February 11 at the Louie Meager Art Gallery at Ohlone College in Fremont featured Michael Sturtz, The Crucible’s Founder and Executive Director.

With humor and passion Michael outlined the history, development and direction of The Crucible from its inception five years ago. He ended his presentation with an invitation to the Ohlone College community to attend The Crucible’s Spring Open House and Student Art Show and Sale on April 3rd. Margaret Stainer the Gallery Director has scheduled a tour bus transport from the Ohlone Campus to The Crucible on April 3rd.

For further information please contact Gallery Director Margaret Stainer or contact Guest Curator Christian Schiess at The Crucible.

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Lecture Series – Beverly Pepper

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Beverly Pepper
Sculpture, Abstraction, Steel & Environment

A Retrospective by the Internationally Renowned Sculptor

On Sunday, October 12th, The Crucible welcomed celebrated artist Beverly Pepper to the Bay Area for a lively lecture, a Meet-the-Artist reception, and a live bronze pour of one of her sculptures. Coming from Italy to present at The Crucible, Beverly Pepper is internationally respected as an abstract metal sculptor whose work is informed by the forms and forces of the natural world.

The evening began with the Meet-the-Artist reception, drawing art supporters from across the Bay Area. The furnace roared with the preparation for the bronze pour as guests mingled, chatted and enjoyed hors d’oeuvres prepared by Jacqueline Burns Catering, and sipped drinks donated by the Four Vines Winery.

As the sun set, The Crucible’s foundry team turned up the heat on the furnace holding a crucible full of molten bronze, ready to be transformed into a work of art. At 6:15pm, the team gave the ready signal, and guests clustered around the foundry area to witness the first major bronze pour in the Crucible’s Oakland facility. The furnace used for the pour is one of two donated by the art department at the University of California at Berkeley. These furnaces and the massive overhead crane are some of the key components in the build out of a world-class foundry at The Crucible facility. With the continued generous support from our members and donors The Crucible will complete its industrial foundry, enabling high-end casting commissions and vocational training opportunities.

As guests watched eagerly, the molten metal began to flow, illuminating the night with a lambent glow. Beverly stood front and center, watching as her piece became reality. The pour culminated with Executive Director Michael Sturtz welcoming Beverly to the Bay Area, and thanking the guests for their support of The Crucible. As the metal cooled in the mold, the audience moved to the lecture hall for the main feature of the evening, a retrospective lecture by Beverly.

The lecture was the second in The Crucible’s Legends of Sculpture lecture series, a lively program featuring world-renowned artists who present their work and answer questions about the processes and techniques they use to produce their art. Beverly showed slides illuminating her work from the beginning of her career to present day. Over 150 members of the community came to hear her speak, and Beverly’s engaging and warm presentation offered insight and advice from over 40 years of her very active career as an artist.

With anecdotes about the early days working in the steel industry, to inside views about the thought processes, planning, creative thinking and fabrication challenges inherent in creating large-scale public art, Beverly held the audience enthralled with slides from locations throughout the world where her monumental, site-specific works enhance public squares, parks, sculpture gardens and busy walkways.

Beverly’s outdoor environmental projects are a collaboration with the landscape and are

Lecture Series – Beverly Pepper2018-03-15T13:49:35-07:00
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