Ring of Fire

A group project involving 2,000 pounds of crushed engine blocks melted in a 2,600-degree furnace was the culmination of a two-year collaboration between Grand Valley State University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. On October 20, a dozen sculpture students from Grand Valley's Art and Design Department, under the direction of Norwood Viviano, were joined on campus by students and faculty from SAIC for a group pour of their iron sculptures. The visual spectacle took place inside and outside the Calder Fine Arts Center on the Allendale Campus.

Flames from the special outdoor cupola furnace shot three- to six-feet high, as 125 pounds of scrap iron was melted down every 15 minutes into glowing molten metal. It was then collected in specially insulated ladles that hold about 90 pounds of iron.

Dressed head-to-toe in protective gear, the students performed a highly choreographed procedure where teams of two maneuver the long-handled ladles. They poured the molten metal into ceramic molds that sit glowing in a sand pit until they are cool. Each ceramic mold is preheated in a 1,000-degree kiln to remove any traces of moisture.

The procedure was repeated a dozen times, until each of the individuals' and group casting are done. Once cooled, the molds are broken to reveal the iron sculptures.

A record keeper meticulously notes every detail of the process to create a recipe for the sculptures produced. The smallest variance in the amount of coke used to stoke the furnace, or the cooking time of the molten metal, for example, can produce different results.

Though Grand Valley students have numerous opportunities to cast aluminum and bronze, this will be the first time they have been able to cast iron using the special cupola furnace built this past summer at Ox-Bow School of Art, located near Saugatuck. Louis Padnos Iron & Metal Company in Holland, Mich. generously donated the cast iron for this joint project.

"The collaboration between the Sculpture Emphasis at Grand Valley and the Sculpture Department at the School of the Art Institute encourages interdisciplinary exchanges amongst faculty and students," said Viviano. "Since the iron casting process is labor intensive and performance based it helps to build community through the shared experience of planning, orchestrating, and observing the event." Viviano, who has taught foundry classes at Ox-Bow during the past two summers, has built a relationship with other faculty members, Daniel Matheson and Carolyn Ottmers, from SAIC. Some of the sculptures produced during this collaborative project will be included in a Grand Valley Intermediate Sculpture Exhibition that will run November 17-24 in the Padnos Art Gallery, located in the Calder Art Center. Next spring, Viviano will take some of the Grand Valley students to another large-scale cast iron pour at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.