On Saturday, Oct. 21 the Department of Visual Arts and the Wyoming Sculpture Society held their 20th annual Iron Pour. The event is an opportunity for Professor Ashley Hope Carlisle’s students to fundraise for the Sculpture Society and to get direct experience with iron pouring.
Billi London-Gray, an art faculty member at UW attended the Iron Pour on Saturday to support a few of her students who were present to carve scratch blocks, as well as to be a representative for Art Haus in Cheyenne.
According to London-Gray, “The Sculpture Society is a student organization and they explore sculptural practices.”
The after-hours group was founded by Carlisle and is an organization in which students can further their understanding of sculpture history, methods, and production.
The event, which is open to the community, generally hosts about 150 to 300 people every year. Members from the community come and purchase a scratch block, in which they will carve an image into.
The block will then be taken by a student in Carlisle’s program and sprayed with a graphite and denatured alcohol mixture which acts as a release agent, which make the removal of the iron mold from the cast made by the scratch block much easier. Once the mixture is sprayed on, the surface of the block is lit on fire to burn off the alcohol, and the cast is ready for the melted iron.
A mixture of iron, coke, which is similar to charcoal, limestone and other sediments are melted in a large cupola furnace. The mixture is then poured into the carved molds ending with an amazing art piece for students and community members to take home.
Jodie Atherton, a former student in the program explained that, “Students in Sculpture One get to be out there and be a part of the process.”
Carlisle’s students are trained to handle the cupola furnace and pour the iron mixture into the casts, giving them first hand experience in iron sculpture making.
The iron used in the process is donated entirely by community members in the interest of decreasing iron scraps in Laramie while simultaneously creating art pieces for the community.
