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MEET THE ARTIST Bendele, who has work in nearly every state and several foreign countries, has completed many public and private projects in his 30-year career. One of the most gratifying was commissioned by St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in the artist’s hometown of Delphos, OH. The Great Doors, which Bendele designed and fabricated, are not only things of beauty, but convey an underlying sense of place and purpose. Their arched copper panels echo elements of the church’s neo-Romanesque architecture, and the medallions within are arranged in patterns inspired by medieval quatrefoil motifs. Symbols of the Christian faith, the four seasons, and the crops, indigenous plants and animals of the Delphos area complete the design. While many of Bendele’s pieces are for public projects, he also creates chandeliers, railings, window grills, arbors and the like for private residences. Whether designing a 2300 lb chandelier for a museum or a door pull for a home, the artist works collaboratively with the architect, committees or homeowner involved to ensure that the end product will suit the space and the user. Once the design direction is agreed upon, it is time for Bendele’s other favorite part of the job, collaborating with the medium itself.
For more information on the artist and a photo gallery of his work, go to michaelbendele.com
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Ask Mike Bendele what he likes best about being an architectural blacksmith, and he’s
likely to give you two answers. The first is, designing objects that are meaningful to the
people who use them. The second is the process of giving form to his designs in metal.
Another such site-specific work is the garden bench that Bendele created in honor of Dale
Baker, founder of Chemical Abstracts Service, for the Ohio Governor’s Residence in
“A bar of steel is a cold, lifeless thing,” he says, “but by heating and hammering in a
practiced manner, it can be brought to life.” For Bendele, forging a yellow-hot metal bar at
around 2000 degrees is like a jazz improv. “There are strict rules of physics, and you go
in with a plan, but as you watch the metal change shape and see how it looks, it suggests
new ideas about how you might push that look further.” After decades of working metal,
Bendele says you can never really learn everything about it. There are always new ways
of working, new things to try. He loves the challenge of experimenting with a new
technique or alloy, wondering if will work, and if it doesn’t, trying to find out why. Every
project is different, and boredom is never a factor.