Second iron pour slated for late October

University of South Dakota sculpture graduate students and sculpture professor Chris Meyer are preparing for another iron pour with their recently constructed cupola.

This will be the second pour in three months, with the cupola built by Meyer and Jordan Eaton, sculpture Bachelor of Fine Arts alumni.

Since our first pour in July, we have continued our research by attending a workshop in Lamberton, Minn., and the Western Cast Iron Art Conference in Laramie, Wyo., in September.

There, Meyer, Eaton, USD sculpture alumni Tom Dahlseid, Justin Tobin, current sculpture graduate students Emma Mulhall, Ashley Lemon and I participated in mold-making workshops, attended lectures and panel discussions, poured iron and attended gallery receptions.

The USD Sculpture Department was represented in the conference exhibition as Meyer was awarded Juror’s Choice for the Western Cast Iron Art Conference Professional Exhibition and I was juried into the Western Cast Iron Art Student exhibition.

All of this research will be put to work this week, Oct. 21-25, as the sculpture department and the Art Department visiting artist program host visiting artist Kelly Ludeking of KRL Metals. He will give an artist presentation, studio visits, sand mold-making workshops and he and Meyer will lead the pour.

Once the molds of the artworks to be cast are in place and the cupola furnace is heated using a cartridge heater, the crew will suit up in leather safety gear and begin to charge the furnace. Alternating batches of iron and fuel will be added to the furnace, heating the iron to a pouring temperature.

The pour will begin when the furnace is tapped and the iron begins to flow. A crew of two will catch 80 pounds of iron into a ladle the size of a propane tank, they will carry the ladle to the mold that will be filled and the iron will be gracefully poured into that mold. When the ladle is empty, the crew will return to the tap for another ladle full of iron.

This production-style pour can last can last several hours. The pour leaders will rotate the crew, providing ample time for rest and opportunity for those interested to participate.

The main event is Friday, Oct. 24 at 1 p.m. behind the Warren M. Lee Center for Fine Arts and is open to the public.

All are encouraged to attend the iron pour and workshops. The mold-making workshops will be available Tuesday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in Sculpture room 171 in the Fine Arts Building.

“Of Broken Molds,” an exhibit of the artworks created during the first “The Little Pour on the Prairie” are on also on display in Gallery 110 in the Fine Arts building. The show includes representational objects, works using objects found in the everyday world, mixed media sculpture combining iron with glass, fabric and glass and experimental works using dried corn.

( Photo: Sculpture professor Chris Meyer’s piece of cast iorn and welded steel was awarded Juror’s Choice at the Western Cast Iron Art Conference Professional Exhibition held in Laramie, Wyo., in September. Pieces such as his can be created with the iron pour to be held Friday, Oct. 24. Submitted photo / The Volante)