Community Collaboration/ Hot Metal Pour 2010

Community Hot Metal Pour Sand Mold Carving Instructions:

When your sculpture is poured with metal and taken out of the sand mold, it will be the reverse of what you carve.

• You will be provided with a bonded-sand block that has a ½ deep recessed area of either a 6, 8, or 10 inches, size determined by price.

• Lightly draw on the sand mold with a pencil or a sharpie. The marks will not appear on the final sculpture.

• Select a carving tool that you feel would be best suited for the texture and design of your sculpture. The most popular carving tool to create raised lines is a nail, however other tools such as chisels, dental tools, screwdrivers, rasps, and grinding balls or discs can be used as well.

• You must leave 1 inch at the bottom of the sand block uncarved. Carving too deep into the form could cause a leak or break in your mold. (If you accidentally carve too deep, please tell one of the Franconia artists assisting with the sand molds and they will do what they can to repair it.)

• What you carve into the mold will come forward in relief in the final metal form. The final image will be the reverse of what you carve.

• The area you do not carve will remain recessed.

• If you want lettering, it must be drawn in reverse as if looking into a mirror. An easy method for creating letters is to first draw with sharpie on a paper, then flip the paper over and transfer the design to the sand block.

Safety equipment will be provided.

Safety concerns:

Silica dust is harmful to lungs. Dust masks and safety goggles are available on each table.

To clear your mold from sand, tip it over and use a paintbrush to dust it out or bring it to the vacuum area that the artists have set up near the mold queue.

• Do not blow on the mold to remove excess sand.

• Be mindful of others working around you.

The sand blocks are made with silbond, which is a two part non-toxic resin that breaks down with water.

• Do not have any liquid near or on molds while carving.

After your mold has been poured and after the metal cools, Franconia artists clean and grind any sharp bits of iron from the work, so you can take your sculpture home.

If you need to leave before your sculpture is completed, please leave your contact information at the info table, (including a small sketch of the tile) Also indicate when you expect to return to pick up the tile.

Artist Process for creating cast metal sculpture:

1. Create a three-dimensional (positive) sculpture pattern to make a sand mold from. That sculpture pattern can be any combination of materials because it will not be permanent.

2. The artist then makes a sand mold (to pour hot molten metal into) of that sculpture pattern. Sometimes these molds have as many as twenty parts, and can weigh up to 2000 pounds. The original (temporary) sculpture is then removed from the mold, thus making the space (void) for the hot iron to be poured into.

3. The iron cupola (furnace) is then fired up to 2500° F using coke, a derivative of coal, to fuel the furnace. Iron is then slowly loaded into the top of the cupola to create a reservoir of iron that is ready to pour.

4. Then all of the workshop residents’ sculptures are filled with molten iron from the preheated ladle. The artists also pour liquid iron into all of the sculpture molds made by community members.

It is an exciting and Hot, Hot, Hot event!

Stop by the Park anytime during the last week of July through the first week of August to visit with the artists involved and learn more about their work.

2010 Iron Artists are:

Pritika Chowdhry, WI
Kate Clark, WA
Veronica Glidden, MN
Alexa Horochowski, MN
Mary Johnson, MN
Thomas Linder, MN
Suzanne Mahoney, MN
Peter Morales, MN
Stephen Morse, PA
Tamsie Ringler, MN
Julia Rogers, OH
Araan Schmidt, OH
Austin Sheppard, NC
Kristy Summers, IL

Franconia Iron Artist Interns:

Samantha Guy, OH
Keith Kaziak, MN
Scott Lamont, MN

2010 Community Collaboration / Hot Metal Pour is made possible, in part, by a grant from the East Central Regional Development Commission and the East Central Arts Council with funds from the Art and Cultural Heritage Fund provided by the Minnesota State Legislature. Thank you!

Franconia Sculpture Park is an innovative arts organization that provides live, work, and exhibition space to emerging and established artists. The 20-acre sculpture park, with a rotating collection of over 75 contemporary sculptures, reflects the creative talents of local, national, and international artists. Franconia is free and open to the public 365 days a year. Donations are always welcome. The park celebrates the new work created by Artist Interns, Iron Artists, and Jerome and Open Studio Fellowship Artists this fall at this year’s 13th Annual Arts and Artists Celebration & Festival on Saturday 26, 2009.

Franconia augments its exhibitions with educational and outreach programs that include weekly scheduled docent tours on Sundays at 2:00 pm, school partnerships, specific programs for at-risk youth, Kids Make Sculpture classes and 3-Dimensional symposiums every second and fourth Thursday (June-Oct,) at 8:00pm. For more information, please visit the Franconia web site at www.franconia.org.

Franconia Sculpture Park is supported in part by generous donations from: the McKnight Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, the Bush Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Hugh J Andersen Foundation, Elmer and Eleanor J. Andersen Foundation, Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation, Athena Foundation, the Beim Foundation, Carolyn Foundation, COMPAS, Constance Mayeron-Cowles and Charles Fuller Cowles Foundation, Driscoll Foundation, East Central Regional Development Comminsion and the East Central Arts Council, HRK Foundation, Hynnek Fund of HRK Foundation, Pugsley Fund of HRK Foundation, Lownade Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Prospect Creek Foundation, Sage Cleveland Foundation, Slumberland, St. Croix Valley Community Foundation and the Wisconsin State Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin, Target Foundation, Von Blon Charitable Foundation, the Archie D. & Bertha H. Walker Foundation, Windgate Foundation, Woodrill Foundation, Woodbury Foundation, In-Kind Donations from generous business’ and many passionate patrons like you. Thank you!

For a complete list of our Supporters, please click here.

For a complete list of our Individual Patrons, please click here.

For a complete list of In Kind Support, please click here.