Mike Riegel's prolific career as an artist and metal-worker spans over 50 years and includes being incorporated in our nation’s permanent art collection at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.. His sculpture —mostly figurative— often works through religious and sexual themes and demonstrates a mastery over the metal medium.
A Professor Emeritus of art at California State University, Sacramento, Riegel's signature commissioned works are wrought iron railing and gates at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and the Embassy Suites Hotel in Sacramento, CA.
The Artist-Blacksmith's Association of North America (ABANA) founding members in Lumpkin, Georgia, 1973. Riegel (marked by the arrow), alongside his influential teacher, Brent Kingston (standing left of him). Alex Bealer, the blacksmith who wrote the book, "The Art of Blacksmithing," inspiring a generation of metal-workers, also pictured (seventh from the right side).
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