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sculpture

39 & Holding series (new cast iron sculptures)

April 3, 2015
art, metal casting, process images, sculpture
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Here are two recently completed cast iron school desk sculptures, from the 39 & Holding series. To create these sculptures, I first placed sunflowers on the desk tops, and then resin bonded sand molds were packed around these forms. After the molds hardened, the desks & sunflowers were removed and the pieces were cast as open-faced molds. The first piece in this series collapsed during casting, but its irregular form was incredibly intriguing, so I decided to work with the casting in this raw state. After being cast, these pieces were heated & finished with a brass brush & paste wax, which gave them a rich, lustrous finish.

The title of this series references the classic Jerry Lee Lewis song “39 & Holding,” a tune about the inevitable cycles of aging which became considerably more relevant in the past couple of years as I transitioned out of my thirties. I decided to carve thirty-nine hash marks into each of the molds, creating a deep, gestural tally to signify the passage of time. Sunflowers have long been featured in both art and religion as symbolic markers of growth and decay, and they were a prominent fixture in the rural landscape where I grew up, so I had a range of conceptual, art historical, and auto-biographical reasons for using these flowers as imagery.

fall 2014 west virginia collegiate iron pours

December 12, 2014
art, metal casting, news, process images, sculpture
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This past month has been a period of great activity in the West Virginia cast iron community. Shepherd University hosted their fall iron pour early in November and a week later, the sculpture program at West Virginia University hosted our fall iron pour. I am pleased that Shepherd University sculpture coordinator Christian Benefiel, Fairmont State University sculpture coordinator Jeremy Entwistle, and myself have continued to collaborate and get our student involved to make these events run in a safe and efficient manner. The palpable teamwork and camaraderie exhibited by all participants has affirmed my belief that a vibrant cast iron community is emerging in our state. Here’s some images and videos from our events, big thanks goes out to students Violet Goode and Hannah Hicks for documenting our iron pour at WVU.

fall 2013 iron pour

January 21, 2014
art, metal casting, news, sculpture
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By far my favorite project from the past year was our Fall 2013 Iron Pour. Held on Friday, November 8, at the West Virginia University Creative Arts Center, this event helped inaugurate “Sputnik”, a portable iron-casting furnace that Fairmont State University sculpture faculty Jeremy Entwistle and I began building over the summer. Our pour crews cast around 3000 pounds of iron over the course of the day, which exceeded expectations for the capacity and durability of this new furnace. We also had excellent media coverage and a healthy turnout from the public, all of which contributed to making this event a resounding success.

Jeremy and I and students from our respective programs were joined by Shepherd University sculpture faculty Christian Benefiel and his students, as well as friends from the Pittsburgh iron casting community. In addition, alumni Emily Walley, Brett Kern, Jennifer Rockage McGhee, and Jamie Lester were invited to be visiting artists for the event, all of who cast iron for the first time.

Local businesses, including Construction Supply Company (CSC), 3 Rivers Iron and Metal, and Jack’s Recycling generously contributed materials and supplies for the iron pour. In addition, local metal fabrication company Wilson Works gave us great technical support by cutting out precision parts for “Sputnik”, and Morgantown restaurant Atomic Grill provided catered food for the event.

Big thanks goes out to Daniela Londoño Bernal for photographing this event, as well as Glynis Board from West Virginia Public Broadcasting for her excellent radio segment, which can be found here. The radio story also included a short video documenting the pour, which is linked below.

morgantown tree by carol hummel

December 30, 2013
art, news, public art, sculpture
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Looking back on 2013, I think the most challenging yet enjoyable project I took part in was the Morgantown Tree by artist Carol Hummel.

The School of Art and Design at West Virginia University invited Hummel to be a visiting artist for the 2013-2014 academic year. In addition to having a gallery exhibition, she put forth a proposal to work with students and community members to cover a large tree on our Evansdale Campus with crocheted yarn. Hummel has an impressive record of creating similar crocheted installations in Cleveland Heights, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Drangedal, Norway and New Delhi, India, so I thought it would be quite a coup for her to create a project in Morgantown.

Once Hummel’s project was approved, a workforce had to be organized to make all the crocheted elements. I served as Hummel’s de facto project manager, helping her coordinate with the university and community groups involved in the installation. Because this was a once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity, we decided early on that our sculpture students would assist Hummel. Members of the Morgantown community, including campus knitting groups and residents at The Village at Heritage Point (a senior retirement community), also made invaluable contributions to this project. There was palpable synergy among all participants, and due to excellent teamwork and a stretch of great weather, the installation was finished in only six days.

The Morgantown Tree was created in conjunction with Morgantown’s 2013 celebration of The Year of the Tree (YOTT). By choosing a prominent location for this installation, Hummel’s project enjoyed high visibility for both on-and off-campus populations. She used an open stitch for this installation, which allows the trees to breathe without damaging their growth, and her chosen synthetic yarn will hold its color well for the next several years.

7th annual intercollegiate iron pour at salem art works

October 2, 2013
art, metal casting, news, sculpture
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This past weekend, my colleague Jeremy Entwistle and I took students from our respective sculpture programs at Fairmont State University and West Virginia University to Salem, New York, for the 7th Annual Intercollegiate Iron Pour at Salem Art Works (SAW). We were invited to SAW by their Foundry Director Michael “Bones” Bonadio, who was a visiting artist for our sculpture programs last spring. The weather all weekend was spectacular, there was a great spirit of camaraderie, and we had the distinction of traveling the farthest of any schools in attendance, all of which contributed to making this a worthwhile journey. Besides the iron pour, other highlights of this event included a Friday night pyrotechnic performance, The Temporally Coincident Occurences of Causal Events, by New England Sculpture Service Manager of Operations Marjee Levine and students from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, an inspiring guest lecture by veteran iron artist Joe McCreary, and some terrific exhibitions of artworks created by both emerging artists and iron pour attendees.

nor’easter cast iron art conference

November 26, 2012
art, metal casting, news, process images, sculpture
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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.

collaborative iron pour

October 29, 2012
art, metal casting, process images, sculpture
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Last Friday, I took part in a collaborative iron pour with my sculpture students and Jeremy Entwistle’s sculpture students from the Fairmont State University Department of Art . This was my first time casting iron, and I was truly amazed at the way this process requires such intense teamwork and collaboration. We had excellent weather, there was great camaraderie among all participants, and everything went off without a hitch, so I definitely anticipate more collaborative iron casting in the near future.

memorial honoring canine heroes of 9/11

September 27, 2012
art, metal casting, news, sculpture
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With assistance from my class of summer sculpture students in WVU’s School of Art and Design, I helped Morgantown artist Jamie Lester create a life-size cast bronze German Shepherd sculpture for a memorial commemorating the canine heroes of 9/11. This memorial at Diamond in the Pines Park in Coram (Long Island), New York, pays tribute to the hundreds of rescue dogs that searched for survivors amid the debris from the collapse of the Twin Towers.

A ceremony was held earlier this month on the anniversary of the attacks to unveil the memorial to the public, and the finished work looks really fantastic. This was an incredibly challenging project, and it wouldn’t have come to such a successful resolution without the knowledge, effort, and labor put forth by my casting colleague Jeremy Entwistle and some amazing, long-distance metal casting consultation by sculptor Carey Netherton. Here are some images of the project, from start to finish.

nor’easter conference presentation

August 30, 2012
art, news, sculpture
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More good news…this November, I will be participating in a panel discussion at the Nor’Easter Conference, Aesthetic and Practice in Cast Iron Art in Buffalo, New York. My colleague Jeremy Entwistle and I will be speaking about the collaborative foundry experience between our respective sculpture programs at Fairmont State University and West Virginia University. This conference has an amazing slate of speakers, artwork, and demonstrations, so we are truly honored to be a part of it.