Renowned in the world of custom vehicles for over 35 years, Mark Gerisch has built cars for Jay Leno and ZZ Top. Now he’s keeping the art and trade of metal shaping alive by leading intensive classes.
In 2014, Gerish founded the Academy for the Art of Metal Shaping in Green Bay, Wisconsin. For the past 5 years, he’s been sharing his hard-earned knowledge and wisdom with the next generation. And he’s using Baileigh Industrial machines to do it.
Gerisch is grateful for the apprenticeship that launched his career: a “classical panel beater’s training in England.” As he notes on his website, “I got there at the tail end of the mentor-apprentice training era. That opportunity is no longer available, but I intend to replicate the best of it in the Academy.”
Recently featured on NBC26 WGBA news, Gerisch explained that he seeks to instill a sense of big-picture design and vision in his trainees. “It’s not just about banging into a piece of metal and blobbing out a shape and then sculpting it with Bondo. It’s actually building the full form and shape of what you see.”
You might mistake Gerisch’s headquarters for a Baileigh showroom, with its impressive rows of our yellow machines. Watch the video below to peek inside his shop while he talks about passing on “all the secrets needed in order to build a vehicle from the beginning to the end.”
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Be sure to follow Mark Gerisch on Instagram for metal shaping tips, demonstrations, and more.
Want to learn metal shaping from one of the best? Gerisch’s Academy for the Art of Metalshaping offers classes ranging from 3- and 5-day workshops to year-long apprenticeship programs. Check out his class calendar, or contact him for more information.