About
Rita Bates
My love for metalsmithing began about a decade ago when I attended my first class in the bay area and was immediately drawn to the feeling of working with familiar hand tools combined with the new advent of fire. After learning some basic skills I accumulated a few rudimentary tools to play around with in my family’s woodshop and through much trial and error, came to the point where I was ready to seek out more intensive mentorship. I’ve worked closely with a few artists on the west coast and in Mexico and gained a versatile set of techniques that carry on into my current work. I prefer a free form approach to metalsmithing which keeps the doors open to constant learning and evolution of style.
I am currently working out of a small workshop on my family’s apple farm in Philo, CA. I help keep the farm running by day and spend the majority of my free time in the shop creating new work inspired by my everyday life outdoors.