Students pour molten aluminum into molds in the Hulsey sculpture courtyard. Over the course of the class, students work with cast bronze, cast aluminum, cast iron and fabricated steel, Holloway says.

Photo by Andrea Mabry

Holloway, right, explains the process to her students in the sculpture courtyard. “For most of the assignments, the students either create a pattern — out of any material — or use an existing object to take a mold from,” Holloway said. The molds themselves, seen at the bottom of the photo, are made from resin-bonded silica sand.

Photo by Andrea Mabry

Preparing for the pour at Sloss Furnaces. “We usually average three or four metal pours during the semester,” Holloway said. The iron pour takes place at Sloss Furnaces, with the Sloss Metal Arts crew. Iron must reach 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit for a pour. The traditional iron furnace at Sloss shown here, called a cupolette, “uses coke and air to heat the metal,” Holloway said.

Photo by Jennifer Alsabrook-Turner

A student adds a bar of cast aluminum to the department’s Speedy-Melt furnace in the Hulsey sculpture courtyard. Aluminum melts at 1,350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bronze melts at 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Photo by Andrea Mabry

The Speedy-Melt combines gas and air to heat metal. It is capable of handling aluminum and bronze, Holloway points out. The department can also melt iron with a cupola built by lab supervisor Page Burch.

Photo by Andrea Mabry

Pouring underway at Sloss. “We can pour all three metals [iron, aluminum and bronze] in the Hulsey sculpture courtyard,” Holloway noted. “However, we tend to take the students to Sloss in order to get them into the local art community and get them to think about ways to create metal sculpture once they are no longer in school.” The Sloss Metal Arts program does weekly scratch block iron pours for visiting schools.

Photo by Jennifer Alsabrook-Turner

Students at Sloss. “They are in full leather gear — jackets, gloves, chaps and spats — along with steel-toe boots, a helmet and heat-resistant face shield,” Holloway said.

Photo by Jennifer Alsabrook-Turner

Students break open the molds to reveal their work. “Depending on the thickness of your piece, you can open your molds within the hour after pouring,” Holloway said. “Thicker pieces should be cooled slower as they might have shrinkage issues if cooled too quickly.”

Photo by Andrea Mabry

Sloss Metal Arts Director Virginia Elliot sets out her iron sculpture, one of the many scratch block castings that Sloss Metal Arts casts for school visits, to cool. “Once the pieces are introduced to air — out of the mold — they cool within hours depending on the metal,” Holloway said.

Photo by Jennifer Alsabrook-Turner

Holloway (center, in yellow helmet) talks with a student while lab supervisor Page Burch loads an aluminum ingot into the Speedy-Melt. “It’s nice to do a deep dive on the subject of metal casting and show the students the many different ways that you can create cast metal art,” Holloway said. “One assignment is a lost wax method, where they either sculpt a piece out of wax or take a rubber mold off of a created pattern or existing object and pour it in wax. The wax is then gated and packed in a single resin-bonded sand mold that will then have the wax melted out.”

Photo by Andrea Mabry