OU art students get all fired up over iron pour
EDUCATIONFUN, KNOWLEDGE COMBINED IN CREATING BEAUTY FROM MOLTEN METAL
BY JAMES S. TYREE
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Published: November 3, 2009
NORMAN — University of Oklahoma art student Josh Stanley was amazed to see his iron casting of a figurative from a painting become such a hot item.
And by hot, OU associate professor
Jonathan Hils was talking at least 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Stanley’s project was one of dozens to receive molten iron Friday at the Fuego Friday: Halloween Iron Pour and OU Student Costume Contest outside
Fred Jones Art Center.
About 15 students from OU and
East Carolina University worked with Hils on the iron pour as people of all ages watched the intensely bright orange glow of the liquid iron coming from a blast furnace.
Some students operated the furnace, others worked together to collect the molten iron and pour it into molds while still others were quick to cool iron spilled outside the molds with sand.
Regardless of one’s job, all artists were covered with thick coats and gloves and wore face protection.
"It’s pretty interesting,” said Stanley, a junior from Newalla. "I have one of the student molds, and I’m wondering how hot it is right near it. What they’re doing is pretty amazing.”
The team also poured scratch molds for anyone to buy so they could create their own piece of metal art, with proceeds benefiting the
Visual Art Student Association. Hils said the sculpture program tries to do an iron pour each semester, so anyone interested in purchasing a mold may do so in the spring.
"This process brings together engineering, chemistry and artistry into one of the most unique spectacles you’ll witness,” Hils said before the pour. "It’s also really, really hot and that’s just plain cool.”
He also said the process requires a team of people working together, which goes against the common vision of an artist working alone in the studio.
Students from East Carolina,
Oklahoma State University and the
University of New Mexico were expected to join the OU students, but only the East Carolina group attended.
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