Summer Resident Spotlight: Dani Sanchez
Summer Studio Resident Dani Sanchez has lived countless lives. Over the past few years she’s traveled the country working as a wilderness first responder, wood carver, and most recently, an industrial arts teaching assistant. Her introduction to crafts and making came in Northern Montana–what started as a short stop during a road trip became an extended stay, where she was first introduced to spoon carving and helped set up a small spoon shop near a hostel.
“I spent three weeks out there carving spoons and setting up the shop,” Dani says. “And then I came back for the winter to carve some more. There weren’t any production protocols–he just said, ‘make what you want to make’ and then took off to Belize!”
With the owner’s blessing, Dani set to work in what was essentially her own private wood shop.
“I carved all winter and froze my butt off,” she laughs. “But it definitely set a fire in me for making things, and ever since then I’ve wanted to expand on that!”
To shape her residency at CAFAC, Dani looked back to that winter, where she first dipped a toe into craft.
“I wanted to focus on making sculptural spoons,” Dani explains. “Spoons are one of my favorite tools, and I knew that the visions I had for them would require me to branch out into different methods–perhaps casting and welding.”
Since arriving on site in June, Dani has been keen to learn more. She’s looked to instructors for inspiration, technical knowledge, and support.
“Just talking to the instructors here is opening up worlds to me!” she says. “Brighton [McCormick] is so knowledgeable, and I was able to hop in a class with Serg [Vaynshenk] last night. They’re just so generous with their knowledge and advice. I’m feeling a lot more confident in how doable my project is, because there’s such a great network of instructors here and resources to rely on.”
Her creations will involve a mix of blacksmithing, found object sculpture with oxy-acetylene welding and brazing, and enamel–a totally new medium for Dani.
“Playing with color is going to be a lot of fun! I’m really excited for that,” she says. Her sculptures involve a mix of technical experimentation and abstract concepts; for example, turning a rake into a prairie fire flower–a representation of rebirth and renewal–or emulating a rope with forged steel. One of the concepts that has her most excited is a play on words: a “cuchara cuchara.”
“[Cuchara] means spoon in Spanish, but it's also slang for vulva in Argentina and other parts of South America,“ Dani explains. “That connection is something I want to explore. Ever since I started making spoons, I was like ‘I have to make a cuchara cuchara.’ It’s been on my list for a long time!”
Finally, at the end of her residency Dani intends to offer a spoon-making class to the general public at CAFAC.
“There’s still a lot I need to work out in how the class is going to be structured, but I already have interest,” she says. “I’m feeling very inspired!”
Dani works in the CAFAC smithy, prepping for her upcoming class.