Professor joins forces with GoggleWorks for Iron Pour Event
A member of Albright College’s art department and GoggleWorks Center for the Arts have teamed up to present a Spring Iron Pour on Saturday, April 29, at 7 p.m., at GoggleWorks, 201 Washington St., Reading.
Led by Albright assistant professor of art Brian Glaze, who is also a visiting artist at GoggleWorks, the event will feature 2,000 pounds of reclaimed iron heated to almost 3,000 degrees and poured into molds. Free and open to the public, this is the first Iron Pour to be held at GoggleWorks. The event will also feature live music, refreshments and demonstrations.
Organizers have been collecting scrap metal, including old steam heat radiators, to melt down in a Cupola-style furnace, a continuous melt furnace, for the pour.
Glaze and GoggleWorks will hold a Scratch Block Workshop on April 29 at 10 a.m., during which participants can create an openface sand mold to produce their own cast iron relief sculpture and prepare it for the Iron Pour. In the evening, participants can watch their sculptures come to life. The workshop is $50 per person. To register: https://goggleworksspring-2017.ticketleap.com/ sratch-block/).
With its use of fire, extreme temperatures and the resulting artwork, an iron pour is a “dramatic event,” says Glaze. “The iron pour is an activity that is more industrial in nature than a classic bronze casting. Educationally, it is historically reflective of where we came from as a society, while maintaining a certain level of knowledge and skill set for making things.”
On Friday, April 28, Glaze will give an artist talk about his work and preview the next day’s Iron Pour. The talk begins at 5:30 p.m., in GoggleWorks’ film theatre, followed by a reception. Free and open to the public, the talk is part of GoggleWorks’ Spotlight Night event series.
From May 5 through June 28, Glaze will have a solo exhibition in GoggleWorks’ Schmidt Gallery. Titled “Explorations in New Media,” the exhibition is a video installation that comments on the everchanging technology in our lives. A reception for the exhibition will be held on June 9, at 5:30 p.m. Glaze will also be teaching a welding workshop on May 20 at Goggleworks, which will introduce the basics of welded sculpture to students.
Glaze’s body of work stems from past and present themes concerning consumerism, technology and manufacturing. With these fleeting technologies, his work presents new meaning to found objects through viewer interaction and participation. He has exhibited sculpture, installation, interactivity, and time-based artwork nationally and internationally.
The event will feature 2,000 pounds of reclaimed iron heated to almost 3,000 degrees and poured into molds. Free and open to the public, this is the first Iron Pour to be held at GoggleWorks.