Piecemaker/Peacemaker is a transformation of a 22 Long Rifle six shot revolver handgun into a common kitchen utensil; a pizza cutter. I grew up in a household where guns were seen as tool or utensils by which food was put on the table rather than objects that caused harm to other individuals. Thus my understanding of the gun has been tempered by my experiences with guns and living in a rural community from a young age. During my childhood, I spent many hours in my father’s shop learning how to care for and repair guns, as my father always owned guns and would often do gun repair for neighbors as a hobby. My sisters and I also assisted my father in his shop by knocking spent primers out of shell casings, casting lead bullets, prepping brass for reloading, and using various types of bench reloading equipment to create bullets. These memories encompass some of my earliest metalworking experiences. During this time I also learned how to handle guns respectfully and would frequently use guns to target shoot (although I had little to no interest in hunting to provide food as my father did). My viewpoint about guns was one of respect and that guns were simply a tool that enabled my father to provide food for our family. In addition, guns provided a learning opportunity and insight into a mechanical object that required care in it's maintenance in order to keep the tool functioning properly, accurately, and safely. During these formative years I also learned respect for human life and for my neighbors in my local community as I regularly attended a Christian church that taught me about the productive roles that individuals perform in society. These individual roles serve the function of a healthy community and the members provide for each other through the use of talents and abilities and application of skill. Mutual respect was the basis for the community that I grew up in. As an adult I have not owned any guns until receiving this gun to participate in this exhibition. My understanding of what guns represent has changed drastically after living in metropolitan cities where gun violence is rampant and people’s lives are frequently changed forever as a result of this harmful object (which I had previously viewed during my childhood as relatively benign). The opportunity to engage in this conversation through the transformation of this tool into another tool or utensil has allowed me to better understand my thoughts on guns and on humanity as a whole. It is my hope that people would understand through viewing this work that peace is only achievable first through a mutual respect for each other in how we interact. Any tool can be misused to do extreme harm OR it has the potential to perform a beneficial act. The transformation of the handgun into a pizza cutter is a direct response to the Biblical passage from Isaiah 2:3-4: And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Until the people of our world make an honest and sincere attempt to care for one another and to share in a mutual respect for the preciousness of life, we will never be able to come together on the issue of gun control and gun use. Piecemaker/Peacemaker is my attempt to symbolize a modern translation of the Biblical passage above and to remind people that peace is possible if we use our talents within our communities to effect positive change and that anything is possible if we have faith.