Bronze Pour

Madison Kelly

April 28

In my sculpture class with the wonderful professor Stephen Colley I am getting the great opportunity to do a lot of truly amazing things. One of these things is being able to participate in pouring bronze. Stephen lets us students come and observe the bronze pours and a select few of us are able to actually participate in them. Only a select few are allowed to participate because it is not easy work and you do have to be fully confident in your ability to do it. It is very heavy molten bronze, you have to be strong enough to lift it and not be afraid of the heat and fire. I'll admit I'm a little crazy and have no fear when it comes to these kinds of things and I do actually quite enjoy fire.

Photo by Julie Potter

Photo credits to Julie Potter - read her posts here on the blog and her photos on her Instagram @otter.images !!

The images about show where the metal gets heated, the fire that can occur, and the extremely hot basin of molten bronze being lifted.

We did a pour this past Friday 4/26/2024 and the previous Friday, 4/19/2024. For both of these pours I had the wonderful opportunity to be on the "Dead-end" for the pour. In order to pour the bronze there is this tool that goes around the basin and latches to it so we can lift it and tilt it to pour. There are two ends, the "Live-end" and the "Dead-end". The person on the Live-end does the pouring while the person on the Dead-end does the heavy lifting. Both parts require a lot of strength and coordination because you are both working together to lift and pour the metal. I learned this past Friday during the pour that the Dead-end takes on more weight than the Live-end because of how the persons hands are placed. So for both of the pours I participated in I had the heavier end of it which I didn't realize. In the first pour I only had to lift about 50 pounds while in the second pour I had to lift about 150 pounds. For the second pour I was lifting significantly more than my body weight so Stephen did have to act as a spot for me and help me lift it.

Me at the Dead-end, Photo by Emma Brooks

Mike and I pouring, Photo by Julie Potter

The pours are run/directed by the amazing Mike Swanson. He is a very talented guest artist we have in the sculpture studio. He works a lot with metal and doing many different pours, he is overall very knowledgeable about the topic. He is very kind and eager to share his knowledge with us and loves having us help with the pours. The pours are a very intricate process that require someone to be in charge of directing it and that's him. He coordinates all of our movements so we can move easily and seamlessly through the process. He tells us when to lift, when to hold our position, when to move, when to pour, when to stop, and so on. He always makes sure if we are partaking in the process of the pour that we are comfortable and prepared to do so. He has overall been a joy to work with and I look forward to continuing to work with him.

Mike and I moving the basin, Photo by Julie Potter

Mike and I pouring, Photo by Julie Potter

Close up of me pouring, Photo by Julie Potter

Close up of the pour, photo by Julie Potter

For this past Friday's pour we had one of Maywood's architecture seniors, Nick, join us and help with the process. He had no idea that we did these kinds of things at Maywood and was very excited to partake in it. He mentioned what a great thing it was to add to his resume and I definitely agree. He was on the Live-end and did a great job, he was really great to work with. It just shows how wonderfully the Art and Architecture departs can work together when we are treated like equals with respect, have amazing people leading us, and are given the opportunity to work together. I'd love to see and experience more of it, it's a shame that its seemed like a rare occurrence.

The photos in this post are from the first pour on Friday 4/19/2024. I didn't describe every aspect and step of the pour but more of it is depicted in the photos below. If you'd like to hear and see more about the process of pouring bronze let me know down in the comments below!