Iron and Foundry Tree

I teach foundry and use it in various ways in my practice. Here is a video by Eric Fuertes of one of the class iron pours.

Foundry Tree is another way I connect to metal casting processes and the iron casting community:

This photographic project strives to document the “family tree” relationships of contemporary artists working with cast iron. Each iron casting artist is photographed individually, many wearing their full leathers, with helmet in hand. They are connected to their teachers and/or students in order to draw connections between them. These images are cataloged in a database at http://foundrytree.com/
foundry_teddy.jpg

Teddy here is in the heroic contrapposto stance some Foundry Tree participants prefer.

This process began April 1-4, 2009 at the National Conference on Cast Iron Art at SLOSS Furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama. I have cataloged over 700 people thus far. I am still uploading and updating images and information. If you know of a locale interested in hosting this exhibition or of an iron pour to have members documented, please contact me at gabriel.akagawa@gmail.com
 

The independent website further develops connections as the images of the capturing process, the images themselves, and as a contact and personal information are posted so students and artists can contact each other. I collect e-mail addresses so the website and the individual’s higher resolution image can be e-mailed to participants. If the artists agree, their e-mail address or other contact information is posted on the site for correspondence. http://foundrytree.com/