How many knives do you have? (This is a BIG question.)
Shelley: “I suppose somewhere well over a hundred.
But it’s more WHAT I have than how many.”
INTRODUCTION
Shelly Berman,
Actor, comedian, teacher, collector,
California
Shelley: “No. These pieces are tough. Pretty as they
You throw ‘em?
are, they’re strong and utile, but, well, I prefer showing them. I mean, these craftsmen are artists, well-
Shelley: “No, I don’t have throwing knives. Some
known names in the community of makers. It takes
people throw knives, I don’t.”
time to build a custom knife. It’s all thought out,
designed, cut, shaped by hand. Each part is special:
Aren’t they for self-protection?
the steel, handle, material, ornamentation, engraving,
tempering, finishing. ‘Custom’ is the word. Each is
Shelley: “In some cases. But no. I’m not a fighter.”
one of a kind.”
Then what do you do with them? (This one always
No.
stumps me.)
Shelley: “Yes. Even if they tried they couldn’t make
Shelley: “Well, what do numismatists do with coins,
the next one exactly the same. Each one is a new ex-
and philatelists with stamps?”
perience, a new challenge, a new sensation.”
Oh, you put them in albums?
You know these makers by name?
of collectors and makers of the most artistic, the most
Shelley: “Not exactly. I do display them. Sometimes
Shelley: “We get to know them; get to know them as
functional of all collectables, I have learned there are
I just stand there looking at them, never tiring of their
individuals, even as stars, even as friends. These are
many who are unaware of our popular and perfectly
particular beauty. Some I carry and use for their pur-
folks who started as teachers, serious painters, cops,
splendid interest.
pose. One of man’s earliest essential tools, some are
engineers, metallurgists, photographers, hobbyists who
definitely for using — in the kitchen, out hunting,
turned pro. Knowledgeable, daring, creative.”
fter some years as a knife enthusiast,
it no longer surprises me to say, “I’m a
knife collector,” and see the look of restrained confusion on the face of the listener. While I know myself as
a member of an internationally devoted community
When I say I collect knives, I have questions to answer:
fishing, hiking. I have a Slobodian, a gorgeous little
Japanese...”
Gee, I thought they’d all be, like, you know,
hillbillies — rednecks.
You collect WHAT?
Slobodian? What’s a Slobodian...?
Shelley: “Well, some of them are, and proud of it.
Shelley: “Knives.”
Knives? Antiques? Like on the wall?
Shelley: “He’s a maker, one of those fellows who
And while knife-making is a craft much praised and
makes Custom Knives. Art Knives. He made a knife to
honored universally, in America it is a distinctly cele-
order for me. I can use it for...
brated art form. Look at this little Japanese style folder.
A tanto. I like to carry it sometimes when I hike. It
Shelley: “Well, some folks seek antique knives. I
prefer Custom Knives; Art Knives, users, you know,
To order? They do that? Does what’s-his-name do that?
feels good in my pocket. I know it will work if I need
to use it. And it’s a work of art.”
handmade, one of a kind, like that.”
Shelley: “Slobodian. They often do that. One time I
Swords? I love swords. King Arthur and stuff.
took that Slobodian to the kitchen to trim a pineapple I
A work of art? Yes, I guess it is. I like it. Who made it?
held the knife, set up the pineapple and... and, I turned
Shelley: “Well, some collect swords. Custom swords
around and put the knife back in the display table.”
Let me show you some custom knives —
are the most beautiful. Contemporary spins on antiques are exciting pieces as well.”
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Shelley: “Old what’s-his-name. Come on inside.
Aha! Afraid to ruin it, right?
some real art knives.”
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About Slobodian
cott was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was raised in Valley Forge where George Washington
and his troops spent the winter of 1777. The area has a rich
history in the making of rifles and knives. His high school
was built on the site where they made the Conestoga wagons that brought so many westward.
After high school, Scott went into the military. It was there
he made his first knife from an old bayonet. He also learned lapidary, ceramics and jewelry casting. Woodworking
came with the family lumber business. His mother is a well
known watercolor painter.
Scott went to Penn State University, Oklahoma University,
and then graduated with High Honors from Art Center
College of Design in Pasadena, California... the alma mater
of another knifemaker, Al Mar. Scott went on to become
a successful commercial photographer and built a studio
in Hollywood. During a shooting at a ceramics factory,
Scott befriended the late Bob Engnath. Bob was the manager of the plant, but he also had a side business making
and selling knife blanks to the muzzleloading industry. In
the early 80’s, Bob began experimenting with the idea of
recreating a decent samurai sword out of modern materials.
PHOTO OPPOSITE RIGHT
RED DRAGON.
11" clay tempered 1050 carbon steel, silk wrap over
ray skin, silver fittings, dyed Maple burl
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ABOUT SLOBODIAN
Scott was fascinated and built several of Bob’s blades. Then
he bought his first Burr King grinder and started making
Japanese blades himself, building on Bob’s experiments and
guidence. Joining the Guild in 1991, exposed him to Louis
Mills and Jim Kelso...an incredible smith and a great “Japanese” artist who made many masterpieces together. Scott
felt he had found his path to artistic expression. In the late
90’s, Scott won the coveted Knives Illustrated Art Knife of
the Year Award for four years in a row. He is a frequent
winner of the Best Sword catagory at many shows. Six
years ago he won “Best Table” at the Italian Knife- maker’s
Guild in Milan, Italy. In 2003, Scott won the Friberg Comraderie Award at the Guild Show in Orlando. He is published
worldwide and has knives in over 20 countries.
In the mid 90’s, Scott closed his studio and he and his wife,
Barbara, moved to Northern Caifornia and built a ranch
with a large studio. The mountains look and feel like Japan
and the remoteness lends itself to the concentration needed
PHOTO OPPOSITE LEFT
SUMMER
11" clay tempered 1050 carbon steel, leather wrap
over ray skin, Chinese gold fittings engraved by
for fine swords.
Barbara Slobodian, Redwood burl sheath
Most of Scott’s knives are in the Japanese style, however
PHOTO BELOW
he is known for his fantasy pieces, bowies, and miniatures.
DRAGON JAR and LIZARD RICE BOWL
This is something he does to keep fresh. Barbara, Scott’s
wife, brings her East Asian Studies degree to the family
business by way of knowledge, inspiration, critique, and
now her engraving. He continues to improve his product
with new ideas, materials, and research.
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Sword Art
THE NATURE OF AESTHETICS AND THE
JAPANESE SWORD AS A FINE ART
Paul R. Allman, writer, collector
The following text is from: “Visions within Visions”
IN WHOSE EYE IS BEAUTY?
ell me, if you can, why the night cry of the mockingbird
sounds cheering and hopeful in the Spring, while its cry in
the Autumn night seems to us so lonely and mournful? Or,
if we dismiss that question as simply the response of Man
to the seasons, why do the Japanese so love the peony and
nearly ignore the rose, while we in the West do the reverse?
These are aesthetic questions. And aesthetic judgments are
beyond “scientific” proof. While any good library has the
mountain of materials on aesthetics, the sum total seems to
be that some things have a power to draw the eye and
capture the mind in such a way that we call these things
“beautiful” or “artistic.”
As evolutionary history is measured, practically the first
thing Man did, after he learned how to make tools, was to
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PHOTO ABOVE
ETERNAL
9" clay tempered 1050 carbon steel, silver fittings,
dyed spalted Birch handle and sheath
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SWORD ART – JAPANESE SWORDS AND KNIVES
decorate them with “art.” And he has never ceased to
be amazed at the products of what likely began with his
scraping at some early tool out of boredom.
IS ANY ART RUBBISH IF NO ONE APPRECIATES IT?
It is said that taste is fashion’s child. Appreciation of the
sword, as of any art form, can be wildly popular or insignificant, depending upon cultural and historical pressures.
But is the sword itself any different? The sword remains what
it has always been. What changes is the number of men
who can see it and the kind and quality of vision they have.
“CRAFT,” “ART” AND THE SWORD: SOME DEFINITIONS
It is important to understand that beauty is not the same as
art. As one of our local artists, Tom Akawie, replied when
told art is everywhere, “No, Beauty is everywhere, art is
rare.” The difference, basically, between art and beauty is
that beauty occurs willy-nilly as a normal product of life,
while art is many things, but is always the product of Man.
It isn’t what a thing is made of, how it is made, or any other
of the usual divisions, that ranks a thing. It is the attitude it
PHOTO ABOVE
demands and the effect it produces that rates a thing from
FROG JAR
daub to high art.
The sword is no exception. It can range from grossly crude
wakimono, “country things,” little better than primitive
tools, to works of such transcendent beauty, that only those
unable to surmount their fear of the sword-as-weapon
have, in my experience, failed to be deeply moved by the
beauty of a fine sword.
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PHOTO OPPOSITE RIGHT
DRAGONFLY DAISHO
28" and 24" clay tempered carbon steel, leather
wrap over ray skin, silver fittings, Zebrawood
sheathes, from the Piretti collection
SWORD ART – JAPANESE SWORDS AND KNIVES
It is my opinion that the sword, at its best, is High Art of a
very high order.
WHY WORRY ABOUT IT?: WE KNOW THE SWORD IS ART
The question of the sword, at its best, as fine art and high
art, is, to my mind, highly important. It is also more difficult than it appears (as I have discovered, to my sorrow, on
writing this paper). In a time when we see books on “The
Art of Pressed Glass,” our simple assertion that the sword is
fine art does nothing. If the sword is ever to receive the
attention and appreciation it deserves, from museum people,
art historians and others interested in this special class of
things called “art,” we must put the sword in perspective as
a “fine art,” both within the context of Japanese art history
and within an aesthetic framework to which Western art
historians can relate. If we fail in this objective, we will see
the sword become a “minor art” given only cursory attention by serious scholars outside Japan.
PHOTO OPPOSITE LEFT
But this is not an easy task. The factual complexity of
DRAGONFLY DAISHO
sword knowledge and the very difficulty of attaining the
28" and 24" clay tempered carbon steel, leather
wrap over ray skin, silver fittings, Zebrawood
sheathes, from the Piretti collection
connoisseurship that is required to appreciate this “high
art” makes it necessary that the sword be shown to be
worth the time. It also means that the sword must be presented in language more cognizant of contemporary critical
and aesthetic thought than our usual “collector talk.”
However, the sword has certain assets that are not widely
recognized. It embodies an important set of questions about
art and aesthetics... that branch of thought that concerns
itself with the nature, definition and meaning of “beauty”
and its presence in “art”... that have been widely written
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