Radiance Festival attendee Mason May helps to keep a blaze stoked in one of the fire pits on display in front of The Dalles Art Center Saturday Evening.
Demonstrating their fabrication and welding skills, students from Columbia Gorge Community College, as well as local artists, participated in a first-ever contest by crafting self-contained fire pits.
For many students, the project was their first foray into design software.
Chris Dodson, instructor of the advanced manufacturing program at CGCC, said the project was a fun way to bring awareness and engagement from the community to the new program, which was first introduced to the college’s course catalog in 2021.
Students had from Monday morning last week until the end of day Friday to complete their projects. They were required to design their projects in a computer-assisted design program and cut their projects on a CNC plasma cutting table, a computer automated platform to assist manufacturers in the cutting of various types of metals.
They then brought their cut pieces of metal together using various styles of welding.
Jake Dollarhide proudly stands next to his fire pit, which won the first-place prize at the Radiance event Saturday evening.
Jacob Bertram photo
Jake Dollarhide won the first-place prize at the Radiance event Saturday evening for his firepit.
Jacob Bertram photo
It’s a project that for first-year students, who began welding in the program last fall, was a daring way to get creative on a project.
Normally projects are brought to them from outside sources with exact specifications, but this time they were encouraged to create a project from scratch.
“It definitely brought out some go-getters,” Dodson said. Through this project, he was looking for students’ ability to execute their vision, and the time, patience and effort it took for them to get to the point where they were satisfied with their creation. “The marks were all hit,” he said.
Jon Keyser, owner of The Dalles Iron Works, donated materials to the students and The Dalles Art Center hosted the space and event as a way to highlight metal craftsmanship in the area.
It was originally the idea of J. Scott Stephenson, the executive director of The Dalles Art Center, who got the CGCC program supervisors on board.
A howling wolf and tree silhouettes cut into one entry glow with flame.
Jacob Bertram photo
On Saturday evening, their creations were brought out in front of the The Dalles Art Center downtown on Fourth Street to demonstrate their completed fire pits’ ability to contain wood fires and participate in a contest and event called the Radiance Festival.
Judges were looking for uniqueness in the design, cleanness in their fabrication, and their ability to keep the fire going.
Jake Dollarhide, a second-year student in the advanced manufacturing program, took home the first prize in the contest portion of the demonstration. He created a square-shaped fire pit held up by a set of beams in the middle, and supported with chains on all four corners, which were twisted to keep all sides even. Stenciled into each side were a set of four symbols of the region, including, fish, wheat, cherries, and an outline of Mount Hood.
Radiance Festival attendee Mason May helps to keep a blaze stoked in one of the fire pits on display in front of The Dalles Art Center Saturday Evening.
Jacob Bertram photo
Dollarhide said it was a challenge to make an idea come to life — “more of a ‘could I actually make it work?’”
He certainly did with its fire raging throughout the competition. Judges noted its ambition and unique design, and for the first place finish he received a welding helmet to use in his future projects.
“Nothing makes me happier than to see how proud our students were of their creations,” Dodson said.
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