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Most art creation happens behind closed studio doors – and when the art processes include an element of danger, those doors are usually bolted from the inside. So, seeing iron melted at about 2000°C (almost twice as hot as bronze) and poured into moulds is a rare experience. On 15th October the West Wales School of the Arts (WWSOTA) showed this technique of producing cast iron sculpture at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea in order to complement the Meltdown exhibition I had curated at the Mission Gallery, and to act as a precursor to the 6th International Conference of Contemporary Cast Iron Art that is being held next July, at the Kidwelly Industrial Museum (www.internationalfe10.com).
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Last Updated on Friday, 07 May 2010 13:15 |
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Why are some artists in Wales attracted to the possibilities of cast iron?
To most people cast iron is associated with either ‘rust-belt’ manufacturing or our industrial heritage, not the 21st century. There are four key characteristics that artists look for when selecting material to work with - affordability, durability, malleability and diverse connotations/associations. Cast iron ticks all these boxes. Established European sculptors as varied as Anthony Gormley, Guiseppe Penone and Thomas Schütte have all recently explored the possibilities of cast iron through using industrial foundries: the unique aspect of sculptural developments in Wales is that the castings are DIY. The results may be smaller but, because of complete artist control, the outcomes are more complex.
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Last Updated on Monday, 02 November 2009 10:05 |
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Fine Art Sculpture 
