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Leo Sepa

 

Leo’s foray into metal art began some thirty years ago. Though the urge to create with fire and metal remained strong throughout the years, Leo’s talents were relegated to weekends and holidays at his Haliburton cottage until he retired. In 1997, he and is wife Hilary fulfilled a longtime dream by establishing Iron Jive Studio in Moore Falls, Haliburton.

Leo is a participant of The Haliburton County Studio Tour, where art lovers watch him demonstrate forging techniques and visit his home gallery. Many of Leo’s ideas are conceived and captured on film during outings of rural Ontario, especially Haliburton. He is continually developing and exploring new ideas, which are reflected, in his artwork.

 

Leo’s paternal grandfather was a blacksmith in Estonia (in fact, the name “Sepa” is derived from the Estonian “Raud Sepp” which translates as iron smith). Like his grandfather, Leo uses traditional blacksmith techniques. But he also employs the use of an oxyacetylene torch, a Mig welder, a plasma cutter and various other modern tools. He works in both recycled and new materials where he sometimes uses natural patinas creating a wide variety of pieces. Though the elder Sepa was a traditional blacksmith, forging tools and farm implements, Leo figures a little of his grandfather’s craft rubbed off on him.

 

Leo was born in 1947 in Sweden after his Estonian parents fled to the nearby country to escape Soviet repression after the USSR invaded the Baltic. He came to Canada when he was three.

Land Acknowledgment

We would like to acknowledge that we are located on ancestral lands, the traditional territory of the Mississauga Anishinaabe covered by the Williams Treaties. This area, known to the Anishinaabe as “Gidaaki”, has been inhabited for thousands of years – as territories for hunting, fishing, gathering and growing food.


For thousands of years Indigenous people have been the stewards of this place. The intent and spirit of the treaties that form the legal basis of Canada bind us to share the land “for as long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the rivers flow”.

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To find out more about all of the extraordinary things to see and do in the Haliburton Highlands in every season click here!

Location:

297 College Drive
Haliburton, ON K0M 1S0
Tel:

(705) 457-3555

Email:

info@haliburtonsculptureforest.ca

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© 2023 Haliburton Sculpture Forest

Images © 2021 Kristy L. Bourgeois | Youkie Stagg | Angus Sullivan | Noelle Dupret Smith | Teodora Vukosavljevic | Nadia Pagliaro

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