Entwine

A green bicycle rack at the back entrance to the Firehouse Arts Center at 4444 Railroad Ave displays its creator’s interest in old-world railings and design.

Blacksmith and artist Jill Turman’s company, Bella Ironworks, produces custom architectural metal works as well as public art installations. Bella means beautiful.   Entwine lives up to the company’s name since is a beautiful turn of forged and twisted 1” diameter solid steel “vines” forming the bicycle rack. It is 7 ft in length and 4ft 6 inches in height.

Jill Turman grew up in neighboring Orinda but she has a love for old-world metal craftsmanship which pulls her to visit Europe for inspiration.  The curves of the Art Nouveau period are her favorite as evident in Entwine. Jill Turman’s formal education unfolded at Cal-State Northridge where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Applied Fine Arts.  Yet her contact with a sculpture professor working behind the art building had a lasting impact on Jill. This serendipitous meeting led to her first encounter with welding and her lifelong passion as a Blacksmith.

The Pleasanton Cultural Arts Council created a non-profit Pleasanton Cultural Arts Foundation soliciting 2.5 million dollars of public and private contributions in addition to the 10 million the Pleasanton City Council eventually authorized for the complex. Jill Turman created four works of art for the Firehouse- By The Letter, Chorus, Spiral, and Entwine.

Jan Coleman-Knight