A group of blacksmiths coming to northwest Ohio later this month will “beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.”  Or, lacking swords and spears, they will be forging garden tools out of firearms.
 
The blacksmiths are part of RAWtools, a non-profit organization based in Colorado that uses performance art to illustrate the vision of biblical prophet Isaiah who penned those words, and to encourage conversation about what it means in modern society.
 
Set for Thursday, June 22, at Bluffton University, the center of the event is a three-hour blacksmith demonstration starting at 3 p.m. The public can watch as guns are forged into garden tools. 

A variety of guns have been donated by area individuals, as well as a local police department. Most people donating a gun have had it in their family and are ready to see it transformed to a new use. One of the guns was used to commit a crime.  This demonstration takes place outside of Marbeck Center.
 
At 7:30 p.m. the public is invited to attend “PeaceMaker,” in Founder's Hall, a church service in which songs, art, stories, and scripture are shared, and a gun is transformed into a gardening hoe.
 
Fred Martin will be the man at the anvil.  One of the founders of RAWtools, he also plays the banjo in a bluegrass band that spends a lot of its time in prison ministry.

RAWtools board member Peter Sprunger-Froese will be one of the team available for conversation at the event. Sprunger-Froese works with an ecumenical group serving the poor and initiating peacebuilding efforts in Colorado Springs. Mary Sprunger-Froese is RAWtools Artist in Residence. With over 30 years of experience in theater, education, and nonviolence action, she offers a skill set to engage her audience toward disarming hearts and forging peace.
 
At the “PeaceMaker” service, Bluffton University alumnus Krista Dutt will preach the sermon. Dutt works with a gun violence prevention program in Chicago.

Stephanie Ingram will share her personal experience of gun violence locally. Ingram is an advocate for youth in Lima, as a mentor for the Tomorrow project and a member of S.O.C (Save our children).

She is employed at the Lima City Schools (paraprofessional with special need children), St. Rita’s Medical Center (patient escort), and Benchmark (serves adults with disabilities).

Ingram’s passion to reach out to youth in her community comes from the murder of her son Quantez D. Tennant, who was shot to death at age 21 in 2014.
 
Also speaking at the service is author Lisa Weaver, a Bluffton native, reading from her children's book Swords to Plowshares which tells the story of John Klassen, an early professor of art at Bluffton University, who gathered scattered bullets during WWI to melt into a lead medallion depicting an aid worker giving food to children.

Klassen Court, the area between Marbeck Center and Founders Hall displays many bronze plaques by this acclaimed artist including a piece titled "Swords Into Plowshares."
 
The finished garden tools will be on display in a multi-media art exhibition called "From Swords to Plowshares; Our Process of Transformation..."  in the Grace Albrecht gallery of the Sauder Visual Arts Center at Bluffton University.  

The gallery is open June 22 - July 30, Thursday -Sunday, 2-5 p.m. Original illustrations from Swords Into Plowshares are part of the show. The gallery will feature artist Judith Greavu’s installation piece "May They Grow Up," made from fused glass, fabric, oak, and brass This piece started as a reaction against the 2003 war in Iraq, with six small fused glass images of Iraqi children in the cross hairs.

Years later, Greavu imagined, in new fused glass images, a positive transformation of these children into adults with fulfilling occupations and even small children of their own.

To donate a gun, contact [email protected].
 
The RAWtools event is sponsored by:
Bluffton Friends Worship Group (Quakers)
Bluffton University
Central District Conference, MC USA
First Mennonite Church, Bluffton
Grace Mennonite Church
Lima Mennonite Church
P.E.A.C.E. Club of Bluffton University
The Lion and Lamb Peace Arts Center
Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship of Lima
 
To donate a gun, please contact [email protected].