nor’easter cast iron art conference
Just before Thanksgiving break, I attended the Nor’Easter Conference on Aesthetics and Practice in Cast Iron Art in Buffalo, New York. At the conference, artists Kurt Dyrhaug, Jeremy Entwistle, and myself had an excellent time presenting our panel discussion Collaborative Venture: Foundry Practice in the Age of Austerity. Besides other great panel discussions, this conference featured distinguished guest speakers, outstanding contemporary art exhibitions, and some truly impressive cupola furnaces, all of which left me looking forward to the next meeting of iron casting artists.
- Conference participants pouring iron into scratch block molds
- Pour crew filling molds with molten iron
- Tapping the furnace for the Friday evening iron pour
- Safety lecture before the Friday evening iron pour
- Safety lecture before the Friday evening iron pour
- Lecture by artist Jene Highstein
- Lecture by artist Jene Highstein
- Vaughn Randall, “Gothic Gnome Engine”, ink and gouache on birch plywood
- Elena Lourenco, “Diptych from…Flight of Sisyphus”, roofing felt, tar, oil primer
- Christian Benefiel, “Untitled”, rust on canvas, cast iron
- My drawing “Feed the meat machine”, mixed media on paper, featured in the conference exhibition
- “Crossing the Line: Drawings by Sculptors” conference exhibition
- Kurt Dyrhaug, “Device in Progress #1”, mixed media on paper
- “Crossing the Line: Drawings by Sculptors” conference exhibition
- “Crossing the Line: Drawings by Sculptors” conference exhibition
- Mandatory conference lecture on foundry safety
- Mandatory conference lecture on foundry safety
- Charging “The Beast” with fuel
- Charging “The Beast” with fuel
- Pour crew filling a giant sand mold with molten iron
- Pour crew filling a giant sand mold with molten iron
- Charging “The Beast” with fuel
- Charging “The Beast” with fuel
- Firing “The Beast”
- Lighting of “The Beast”, a 1000 pound tap furnace
- Lighting of “The Beast”, a thousand pound tap furnace
- Lighting of “The Beast”, a 1000 pound tap furnace
- Old vacuum cleaner used as a blower on the cupola furnace
- Pile of scrap iron in the foundry yard
- Cast wax horned skull (the unofficial conference mascot)