FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: OLIVIA PEVEC

BY ALISON JOHNSON // EDITED BY HEATH HIGNIGHT

Blacksmithing Faculty Olivia Pevec has a lot of irons in the fire beyond the CRMS Forge. From blacksmithing to wood-splitting to the arts and volunteerism, longtime local Pevec is a true Renaissance woman with many talents and interests.

Pevec was born in Denver but spent her childhood in British Columbia, Portugal, and then Portland. Her grandparents were lifelong Carbondale residents, which ultimately drew her to the valley over 20 years ago. She was introduced to blacksmithing while working with a horse farrier who doubled as a hobby blacksmith. She then took a weeklong women’s class with an artist from Marble and fell in love with it. Before coming to CRMS, Pevec worked as an ornamental blacksmith and as a demonstration blacksmith at the Glenwood Springs Adventure Park as well as with students at CRMS during Interim. Olivia joined CRMS in 2017 as an artistin-residence for the blacksmithing programe, and will transition to a faculty appointment for the 2021-22 school year.

Olivia leads a student service crew that learns the fundamentals of blacksmithing while producing unique items like hooks, keychains, bottle openers, candlesticks, and utensils. Many of these creations become auction items for the annual OysterBASH fundraiser each fall. Pevec hopes to impress upon her students not only the skills of blacksmithing but also the notion of craftsmanship.

“Blacksmithing is a craft first, and it became an art later on,” says Pevec.

“To me, that means taking care with your work, doing your best job, but also caring for the tools and space. It’s that ethic of craftsmanship and manual capability that you get from any craft that’s asking you to work with a material in a particular way.”

While blacksmithing is rare in high schools, Pevec sees essential takeaways from the process for students. Hot steel moves like clay, but the manipulation of it must come from tools, which makes it challenging for students to learn.

“The biggest takeaway students get from the exposure is that they can see how giving a little time and energy and attention to something pays off,” says Pevec. “That you do something that you think you’d never be able to do, and suddenly you discover that actually, you can. If you give it a moment, things start to get better.”

The manual labor of blacksmithing has led directly to Pevec’s success in other arenas. For twenty years, she’s entered the women’s wood-splitting competition at Mountain Fair and come away with five champion titles. With a hearty laugh, she attributes her success not only to the hammer swinging and hand-eye coordination required by blacksmithing but also to the luck of the piece of wood she draws.

When not blacksmithing or chopping wood for an audience, Pevec plays several other vital roles in the community as well. She regularly performs in a 4-piece folk band called Let Them Roar.

“It started as a living room jam session,” she says. “There was real spark and ‘

Magic

from the group, and we’ve been going for over a decade now.”

The band, which recently announced its last performance will take place at Mountain Fair this year, has had a philanthropic mission and raised thousands of dollars to support immigrant women living in sanctuary situations in Colorado. While Pevec sings for the band, she also picked up the banjo made by her father before she was born.

“It sat in a closet in our house my entire life,” Pevec says. “I’d sneak in and pluck it. About seven years ago, I decided it was time to learn how to accompany myself. I’d tried to pick up the guitar but never felt it. As soon as I picked up the banjo, it felt right.”

Her interests also extend to the local arts community. She was instrumental in spearheading the DeRail Park arch on the ARTway in Carbondale, for which CRMS students contributed pieces from their 2018 Interim class and was recently spruced up during Scholarship Work Day this year. She also helps run The Near New thrift store in Carbondale, which is run by the Rebekahs, and auxiliary of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows service organization.

“It’s one of those old fraternal organizations based on service,” says Pevec. “My friends and I were intrigued by the thrift store, so we went in and talked to the ladies holding down the fort. We all joined the organization and are now doing our best to keep the store open.”

Pevec calls the volunteer-run thrift shop a community treasure partly because you can find some of the best deals around, but also because every dime raised goes back into the community.

“All you have to do to ask for money is write a letter,” she says. “The sisterhood edict is about widows and orphans, so we look out especially for families in need but also anyone who writes us a letter.”

The Near New Thrift Shop has helped everyone from national cancer organizations to Carbondale nonprofits to individuals who need help paying their medical bills.

Going into the new academic year, Pevec’s looking forward to tackling yet another new challenge: teaching drama and producing theater with students. Theater is a vital part of many CRMS students’ educational experience over the decades, and she’s excited to bring something different to the craft.

“I’m really interested in site-specific and place-based performance,” she said. “Helping students develop their self-expression has been behind everything I’ve done at CRMS, and I’m thrilled that will now become the focus of my work! With so many diverse experiences under her belt, it’s not hard to believe that Pevec will have a transformative impact on students moving into her new role at CRMS.