DENNIS J PROKSA
EXPERIENCE
1977 to Present Blackrock Forge INC; Shop owner, Pocatello, ID
2006 Boondoggle with Russell Jaqua, collaborative sculpture “For Willene”; Pt. Townsend, WA
1995-’96 Vesuvius; gallery owner, Pocatello, ID
1988-’89 Ironage Artworks; collaborative forge work with artists Steve Weiss and Russell Jaqua, Toowoomba, QLD Australia
1975-’81 Certified Pipe and Tube weldor for industrial contractors at power plants and oil refineries
1983-’85 Idaho State University; Vo-Tech instructor-pipe welding, Pocatello
PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONS
Boise, ID: Whittier School "Artful Boundary-Drawing Lessons Building Connections"
“Litharacnium”
"Les Bois”
Boise Art Museum, Restoration of historic ironwork
Pocatello, ID: “Hobos”
“Prehistory Rail”
“Gun Buyback”
“Bison Latifrons”
EXHIBITS, AWARDS, GRANTS, PROJECTS
2014 Enso Gallery, Boise
Houston Center For Contemporary Craft; Iron: Forged, Tempered, Quenched Exhibit
2010, '97 Boise Art Museum Triennial
2001 ISU Davis Gallery, Pocatello
Tacoma Art Museum
1998 Prichard Gallery, Moscow, ID
'93, '94, '95 International Contemporary Furniture Fair, NY
1993 Lord & Taylor, 5th Avenue NY
Stewart Gallery, Boise
'90, '93 Sudden Opportunity Assistance grants, Idaho Commission on the Arts
PRESS
2009 “Art & Soul” Public Radio stories sponsored by the NEA and Idaho Commission on the Arts
1991 The Contemporary Idaho Artist, Cort Conley, Hemingway Western Studies Center
1979 American Craft Magazine, “Forging On”
EDUCATION
1990 Historical Ironwork of Prague, Czechoslovakia; study with artist and master craftsman Vaclav Jaros
1978 SIU-Carbondale, National Endowment for the Arts funded study, with 6 master metal smiths
1975 Jackson Welding School, St Louis MO; certified ASME Code Section 9
1971 BFA Southern Illinois University-Carbondale
TRAVEL
Alaska, Austria, Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Jamaica, Nepal, Romania, Slovakia, Italy