Source: Daniel Hunt, 785-341-2900, dhunt@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Megan Wilson, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu
Friday, September 7, 2007
K-STATE ART STUDENTS HOST IRON POUR FOR ARTISTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
MANHATTAN -- Cast iron, a process perfected during the Industrial Revolution, will be put to a new test by sculpture students from the Kansas State University department of art.
The students will be joining artists from across the state, the country and the Atlantic Ocean when they participate in the art department's third annual Friends and Neighbors Iron Pour, Friday, Sept. 14, at the south end of Memorial Stadium, between the stadium and the K-State Alumni Center, near the corner of Denison and Anderson avenues.
The pour will begin at 7 a.m. when the furnace and molds are prepared. The pouring of liquid metal into the various molds is expected to begin around noon.
The metal for the iron pour comes from mostly scrap radiators. It will be heated to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit to produce liquid metal. Artists will then pour the metal into the molds they have designed. Artists from the United Kingdom, several different U.S. states and other universities across Kansas will be designing and constructing their own molds.
Daniel Hunt, associate professor and area head of sculpture in the K-State department of art, said there are no restrictions on the molds.
"These are individual artists who are going to come in and create their own original works. We don't really know what they will create, which is one of the exciting aspects of an event of this magnitude," Hunt said.
"Students from the drawing class and other classes within the K-State department of art also will be involved," he said. "There should be a minimum of 75 K-State students and alumni involved, in addition to numerous other artists and students from other universities."
A great deal of work will have to take place before the scrap is placed into the furnace, Hunt said.
"The week before the pour the studio will be really busy. People from all over are going to be coming in and designing and constructing their molds," he said. "We also have to break up the metal and do other things to get ready for the actual event. There will be a continuous stream of activity during the week."