The pandemic has had a profound impact on our business community and we have heard countless stories about restaurants, gyms and the like fighting to survive without access to their in person customer base.
Other industries have been impacted similarly, including those in the creative marketplace. Ms. Caitlin’s School of Blacksmithing has had as unique experience navigating the pandemic as the business itself. Without the ability to teach in person courses and the unique challenges created by remote metalwork (a fire source and tools are a must!), they’ve faced difficulties other industries haven’t been forced to.
Last week we got to chat with owner and operator, Ms. Caitlin, about what she does and how she’s continued to do it throughout the last year while struggling through a global pandemic.
Surviving & Thriving in Pandemic with Ms. Caitlin’s School of Blacksmithing
Blacksmithing is totally a thing!
It may not be a thing you’re consciously aware of, but as you walk downtown and admire the beautiful wrought iron metal work along Carrol Creek and adorning historical homes in Frederick, you’ll note that blacksmithing is an important part of our daily lives.
Caitlin Morris fell in love with the idea of blacksmithing through old family photos of her parents in Europe. She was drawn to the beautiful iron work she saw in the background and, after going to college and pursuing a career, she decided to explore the field as a hobby.
As her skills developed, Caitlin fell more in love with the trade and eventually, in 2015, she launched her business Ms. Caitlin’s School of Blacksmithing with the mission of promoting the craft of blacksmithing and custom-made metalwork.
She has had the opportunity to share her love of blacksmithing and creating with metal with hundreds of students over the years through the courses she offers in her Frederick studio.
Caitlin also spends a great deal of time teaching courses (and taking them) in various cities around the world, wanting to learn and expose as many people as possible to her unique craft.
Shifting Focus Thru Pandemic
Travel, for all of us, was significantly impacted by the onset of the pandemic in 2020, and this is one area that Caitlin felt an immediate impact, “I was traveling at least one weekend of every month before this started and that was something that ended pretty quickly,” shared Caitlin.
Traveling to teach and learn was a big part of what Caitlin did before the pandemic to acquire new skills and keep hers sharp. Since the Frederick community isn’t teeming with blacksmiths, travel allowed her to connect with the blacksmithing community in exciting ways. It also allowed her to introduce her craft to communities far and wide who maybe aren’t so fortunate to have a resident blacksmith in their areas.
While Caitlin is eager to get back to traveling and collaborating in person, the downtime has provide her with the opportunity to focus on things that hadn’t received much attention before.
As Caitlin explained, spending time thinking about new ways of teaching and learning and finding exciting opportunities to marry technology with blacksmithing – an industry that clings to it’s historical roots – has been so beneficial.
She’s also been able to focus on another element that is so important to her – supporting diversity in the space.
The importance of diversity in the community.
Caitlin, along with a group of 10 other professional, female blacksmiths launched The Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths in 2018 with the goal of creating an inclusive, empowering space where anyone could enjoy the art of blacksmithing.
At the end of the day, the metalwork created by blacksmiths is as much functional as it is artistic and diversity among creators just allows for so much more creativity of process and product to develop – something we all benefit from. As the society explains, “We support education, mentorship and events that empower individuals and strengthen the community of blacksmiths. Everyone has something to offer, and everyone has something to learn.”
Want to be a blacksmith?
Or just learn about how fun this could be?
Head to Ms. Caitlin’s School of Blacksmithing to see what courses she has coming up this spring!
Please send email declaring intent plus resume and writing sample(s) to jgerlock@frederickchamber.org with the subject line “Marketing / Communications Intern” Details below:
Frederick Chamber Insights is a news outlet of the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce. For more information about membership, programs and initiatives, please visit our website.