Lexington Arts and Craft Society (LACS) is a non-profit regional education center dedicated to the preservation and promotion of traditional and contemporary crafts.

LACS Society/Guilds

Anyone can become a member of the Lexington Arts and Crafts Society by paying the annual dues and completing a membership form . You do not have to be an artist to join the Society, just someone who believes in continuing the practice of the various arts and crafts which exist at LACS.  

To become a member of the Lexington Metalworkers’ Guild, you must apply and show examples of your metalwork to our membership committee.  If the membership committee believes you have the requisite skills, experience and quality of metalwork that represents this art form, and are willing to support the work of the Society and Guild with your time and talents, the entire Metalworkers’ Guild votes on authorizing provisional membership based on the recommendation of the membership committee. Provisional membership requires you to perform metalworking activities in our metalworking studio a minimum of ten (10) times with at least two guild members for at least 2 hours each time. Once members are convinced that you know how to use the tools and machines in the studio safely; that you can work independently and that you produce metal items that are quality examples of the craft, you are voted on as a full member by the metalworkers’ guild membership. 

Once a member, you have all the rights and responsibilities of all metalworker guild members. Your responsibilities are:

• Pay dues (currently at $40 a year) to the guild;
• Maintain membership in the Society (Society dues are currently $100 a year);
• Perform at least one guild “job” a year (jobs include chairman, treasurer, education, secretary, telephone committee, etc.)
• Perform a studio maintenance duty;
• Participate in and assist in the metalworkers’ annual show;
• Support the Society with the sale of $50 of donated metalwork at the Society’s annual fundraiser;
• Work at and donate time in support of the annual sales and shows of the Society.

Benefits of Guild membership include

• Use of the fully equipped metalworking studio including all  tools and machines owned by the metalworkers’ guild;
• A venue to show and sell your work;
• A collaboration and network of other artists with similar interests.

If you are interested in discussing potential metalworkers’ guild membership, please contact the LACS Office by phone or email.

Who We Are

As metalworkers, our task is to transform pieces of metal into useful objects; we do this by forming, cutting and joining metal.

Forming is a collection of processes that rearrange the metal into a specified shape by: 1) heating until molten, pouring into a mold, and cooling (casting); 2) heating until the metal becomes malleable and then using hammers to move the metal into the desired shape (forging); or 3) by applying mechanical force using machines for this purpose (an hydraulic press or rolling mill for example)

Cutting is a collection of processes where the metal is shaped by removing excess material using various kinds of tools. Most of us use drills, saws, files and buffing machines to remove excess metal to form a specific shape with the metal or to provide a specific surface.

Joining metal is usually done by soldering or melting pieces of metal together, but there are a host of “cold connections”, like riveting, that do not take heat to join the metals. 

Lexington Metalworkers are not just into metal; most of us also combine metals with other materials to make jewelry. Mostly we combine glass and metal (enameling and beading), but we often use stones and textiles as well.   In addition to jewelery, some metalworkers hand fabricate sterling silver holloware, flatware and decorative objects including bowls, spoons, salad servers and candlesticks.  The metalworking craft offers much diversity and interest for those wanting to explore multiple mediums.

Beginner metalworking classes are available at the Metalworker’s Guild every fall, winter and spring. To find out how you can come learn how to “move metal” contact:

Lacs.lexington@verizon.net

Office: 781-862-9696