BRATTLEBORO-Swords to Plowshares Vermont will hold its annual Forging Event Friday, Aug. 7, at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center. The event will take place during Gallery Walk starting at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to all.
The featured blacksmith will be Will Alderfer, local jewelry maker and owner-founder of W.R. Metalarts, who will set aside his fine jewelry work for the evening to demonstrate how gun barrels can be transformed into a garden trowel, a hand hoe, or a piece of jewelry.
He also will guide participants in using a blacksmith hammer so they can feel the power of transforming a gun barrel into a small heart for a necklace. All materials and safety equipment will be provided.
A special presentation will take place at 6 p.m. Attendees will learn about the history and mission of Swords to Plowshares Vermont. Windham County Sheriff Mark Anderson, a member of the organization’s board of directors, will speak about his experience and involvement with the organization.
“In my law enforcement career, I’ve responded to more suicides with firearms than crimes with guns,” said Anderson in a news release. “When the idea of Swords to Plowshares came about, it was a clear way to have discussions about firearms violence that is in the shadows: how firearms impact our community outside of crime.”
To help promote safe gun storage, free gun locks will be available.
Swords to Plowshares Vermont is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to reduce gun violence and foster gun safety through education and public awareness. They provide opportunities for people to responsibly and safely dispose of unwanted firearms and transform them into garden tools, jewelry, and art.
The organization recently received a generous donation from Rolling Thunder New Hampshire #3 of Hinsdale. Rolling Thunder is a nonprofit veterans’ advocacy group that is dedicated to POW/MIA awareness.
For more information on the Aug. 7 Swords to Plowshares Forging Event, email [email protected] or visit swordsplowsharesvt.org.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.