“Ars longa, vita brevis” – that’s what one might say after seeing the craftsmanship of Irving Isaacson. “Art is long, life is short,” and there is always an idea in the mind of Isaacson as he decides how to make something work better, design a more functional tool or add beauty to his surroundings.

Isaacson is a lawyer by profession and a blacksmith by craft.

He brags somewhat quietly that he is one of the few blacksmith lawyers in the country.

His creative mind is always at work.

“A person who knows how to use tools has some control over his environment. I am lucky to have a creative mind, and I can visualize how to make things better.” ISaacson said at home in his workshop.

For example, he said, “My wife, Judith, makes an excellent cheesecake, and I have searched all over for the perfect cake cutter, one that would not tear up the cake,” he said. He searched the Web, looking for designs and finally settled on a variation of a cheese cutter he had made in his own blacksmith shop at home. He designed it so that, using one hand, it can slice through the cake with ease, leaving the cake slices in perfect form.

Isaacson insists that his work is not decorative, but functional household items. This interviewer begs to differ.

Isaacson explains how a certain amount of water introduced into the firing of brass can create unpredictable, but pleasing patterns in the metal. “Brass is melted in a steel form until it becomes fully liquid. Then a small squirt of water induced into the liquid brass creates minor explosions and, thus, creates all the texture in the brass.

Objects of both art and function abound in the Auburn home Isaacson shares with his wife, whom he married shortly after her liberation from Auschwitz at the end of World War II. His favorite piece is a wrought-iron cradle that has held all seven of his grandchildren and awaits a hoped-for great-grandchild. His wife’s favorite piece is a candle snuffer with a unique head design and twisted handle.

Across the room, a set of fondue forks sits on a shelf alongside a candelabrum and a hand-tooled and precise sundial. Near the fireplace a set of andirons are hung from a brass arc. It was frustration with fireplace tongs 35 years ago that inspired Isaacson. He designed a set of firewood tongs, after finding the common tools for lifting large logs to be awkward at best. His design allows a person to stand easily, grasp a hefty log and place it in the fireplace while keeping a safe distance from the flame.

Isaacson also built a barrel bellows, using an old English design, to fan the flame. The set of fireplace accessories may be functional, but the display is nothing short of artistic.

In 1982, Isaacson took a two-week class at Haystack in Deer Isle, a nationally recognized arts and crafts school. His metal work has evolved since then from blacksmithing to coppersmithing and brassworking. “Both copper and brass have greater decorative and design capacity,” he notes.

Isaacson finds himself at home looking through junkyards and Maine Metal Recycling, as he seeks out discarded metal items that become material for future works of art and function. His precision and accuracy come into play as he forms angles in a chandelier so that it hangs evenly or in the drilling of holes so that letter openers are displayed at artistic and symmetrical angles. He insists that there is a certain amount of tension and control needed to form the pieces so that they are both pleasing to the eye and accurate in design.

Isaacson believes in the value of the trades, both for livelihood and recreation. Some years ago, when he discovered Colby College’s Jan Plan included a course in woodworking, he donated an entire blacksmith shop to the college so that students could work with their hands and discover the joy of creating metalwork. He says the students have far exceeded his own creativity, and he finds in that a personal sense of satisfaction as he visits the blacksmith shop each January.

While human life is, indeed, brief by comparison to art that endures for centuries, one can see the work of Irving Isaacson stands as a testimony to his creative mind and his life full of an artisan’s tangible legacy.