[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 34 (Tuesday, March 4, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3081-S3082]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  SALUTE TO BLACKSMITH PHILIP SIMMONS

 Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, I am inserting an article from 
a recent Post and Courier about one of my home State's legendary 
blacksmiths, Philip Simmons. He is a 90-year-old retiree, who was told 
70 years ago that the car would kill the market for blacksmiths. Yet, 
to this day, he still passes his knowledge of the art on to young 
people, and I think we can all be inspired by his enthusiasm for an old 
American art that he won't let be lost.
  The citizens of my state have the opportunity to see and enjoy Mr. 
Simmons' work all over Charleston. In 1975, he forged a piece for the 
Smithsonian that all Americans can take delight in. As he continues to 
stay active and show his work, I hope my colleagues in the Senate join 
this admirer of a great American in wishing him health and happiness in 
the years to come.
  I ask to print the article in the Record.
  The article follows:

               [From the Post and Courier, Feb. 19, 2003]

                            Inspires Others

                           (By Penny Parker)

       Master blacksmith Philip Simmons hasn't slowed down much 
     since turning 90 last June. He still takes any chance he gets 
     to pass on his enthusiasm for ornamental iron working to 
     future generations.
       As special guest of the Charleston Trident Home Builders 
     Association, he will be doing just that at this year's 
     Lowcountry Home and Garden Show at the Charleston Area 
     Convention Center. Simmons will be at the show from 10 a.m. 
     to noon on Saturday and from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
       Simmons and students from the School of the Building Arts 
     (SoBA) will be on hand at the Home and Garden Show to offer 
     insight into the building arts of the past, and the 
     importance of passing on this knowledge to future 
     generations. Simmons will answer questions and sign copies of 
     his books and posters, which will be on sale during the show. 
     Plant hangers with his named inscribed on them and jewelry 
     made from his designs will be available as well. New items 
     this year include Christmas ornaments, wrapping paper and a 
     2003 calendar also features ``Good Friday'' by Jonathan Green 
     on the cover.
       Proceeds from the sales of these items go towards the 
     Philip Simmons Foundation and its effort to build the Philip 
     Simmons Blacksmith Museum at the Camden Towers Cultural Arts 
     Center, which is set to be completed in 2004.
       Simmons was born on Daniel Island on June 9, 1912, and 
     moved to the Charleston peninsula when he was 8 years old. He 
     became an apprentice for blacksmith Peter Simmons (no 
     relation) at the age of 13. he started out shoeing horses and 
     repairing and making wagon wheels in Peter Simmons' shop on 
     Calhoun Street. Once cars became the more popular mode of 
     transportation, he switched to making trailers, but big 
     businesses such as Sears soon put an end to that venture.
       In 1938, he switched to ornamental iron work when a client 
     commissioned him to make a gate from a set of plans. The rest 
     is history.
       Over the years, he as fashioned more than 500 decorative 
     pieces of ornamental wrought iron gates, fences, balconies 
     and window grills. His work can be seen throughout 
     Charleston, in Columbia and even at the Smithsonian Institute 
     in Washington, D.C.
       In 1982, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded him 
     its National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor the 
     United States can bestow on a traditional artist. This was 
     followed by a similar award from the South Carolina state 
     legislature for ``life-time achievement'' and commissions for 
     public sculptures by the S.C. State Museum and the City of 
     Charleston. Simmons was inducted into the S.C. Hall of Fame 
     in Myrtle Beach on Jan. 31, 1994.
       Pieces of Simmons' work have been acquired by the National 
     Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute, the 
     Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, N.M., the 
     Richland County Public Library and the Atlanta History 
     Center. Two gardens in Charleston have been dedicated in 
     Simmons' name, one at his church, St. John's Reformed 
     Episcopal Church at 91 Anson St., and a children's garden at 
     701 East Bay St., near his house and workshop.
       While the awards and accolades mean a great deal to 
     Simmons, one of his big thrills now comes from teaching his 
     craft and passing on the artistry of ornamental iron work to 
     a new generation of craftsmen.
       ``I don't want it (ornamental wrought iron work) to become 
     a lost art,'' he says. ``I can't work anymore, but I can 
     teach. A lot of

[[Page S3082]]

     young people see the need to keep these old crafts going, and 
     they want to learn.''
       Simmons teaches workshops at SoBA and has students come to 
     his shop for hands-on lessons also. He gladly welcomes 
     visitors to his workshop on Charleston's East Side because he 
     sees it as a way to pass on the old way of working with 
     wrought iron.
       ``I bring people to look at the shop all the time,'' he 
     says. ``It reminds them of the past. You had to use these 
     hands. There were no machines.
       ``The machines can cut the wood and the iron, but it's not 
     the same. It's not the art. You can create so many things 
     with that forge. You can really knock yourself out.''
       Of all the pieces Simmons has crafted, he says his favorite 
     piece is the one he made at the Smithsonian Institute in 1975 
     and which has been on display there ever since. ``The one at 
     the Columbia (State) Museum and the one at the (Charleston 
     International) Airport are the prettiest. The Smithsonian one 
     with the fish, the moon and the stars might not be the 
     prettiest, but it shows the country what is going on in South 
     Carolina. So many people have seen it and can learn my craft. 
     That's the piece I love the best, not for looks, but for its 
     purpose in serving this country.''
       Simmons adds that although many people tried to tell him 
     that the car would kill the market for blacksmiths, he never 
     thought of leaving the field. ``In the '30s and '40s, people 
     told me that blacksmith was a dying art. I would shake my 
     head and say, `OK.' That didn't stop me. I didn't close up 
     shop and go work at the Navy Yard or something. I kept on 
     going, and made a great living at it. Not rich, but live well 
     and take care of my family. Now I want to get people excited 
     about it and pass it on.
       ``Craftsmen enjoy making things people have never seen. 
     It's a joy. That's what keeps me going.
       ``I'd be in there beating on that forge right now if my 
     health were good. But I do enjoy passing it on.''

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