Bronze casting classes

[PeterG]

Hi All

I will be in the US (from Australia) in Jan-Feb 2012 and am looking for somewhere to do a short course on bronze casting.

I have built my own foundry and have cast large pieces (up to 200kg -lost wax-plaster silica investment) but am completely self taught. I am after somewhere where I can learn a few refined techniques to get better quality castings.
If there are no teaching foundries I am happy to help out an artist for a week and learn by watching/doing.

Alternately I am also keen to learn about acrylic casting.

Any suggestions welcomed.

Thanks

Peter

[KatyL]

But where is it you want to go? I know a 2 man casting operation in Omaha. They are also known to ISC. The lead guy is a retired sculpture teacher-- so as far as teaching technique, this might be good. It is at Hot Shops in Omaha, NE. This is a kind of "hippie" artist group where they got a huge building and transformed it into a place with a lot of studios and ovens for melting things. They have glass works and forging as well. Not much to do there in Omaha as far as vacation, but there will be snow. It is also about 5 hours from Chicago (it can be reached by a train line that passes through Omaha, or of course, air). In Chicago, of course, there are "big" arts-- Picasso sculptures and so on, as well as ISC headquarters, the Chicago Art Institute, and so on. Putting that all together might make for an interesting vacation.
http://www.bruningsculpture.com/
http://www.hotshopsartcenter.com/

[PeterG]

Thanks KatyL
Thats amazing.....After landing in LA, Omaha will be our first stop (via Amtrak) from where we plan to visit my partners family in Sioux Centre, Iowa (about 2 hrs away). I'll drop these guys a line and see what we can sort out.

Other planned places to visit are Memphis, NYC (brief), Chicago (brief), Vermont and Kalamazoo, Michigan....and if there's any time left, Oregon.....also any large Albert Paley sculptures I can find along the way. Mostly by surface transport. The schedule is pretty flexible so we are happy to divert to see anything interesting or art-educational.

Thanks again.

Peter

[KatyL]

Well that's great Peter, sounds like a full agenda. If you can, try to get to Lincoln NE to see Robert Duncan's private collection. Duncan is chairman emeritus of ISC, and has a house with an amazing private collection of contemporary sculpture, including some very rare sculpture. Tours of the collection are given privately but only to largish groups (10 or more). If you plan on being in Omaha, I may be able to get a group of interested artists together to form a tour. Lincoln is about an hour's drive from Omaha.

[EJB]

Sounds like quite a trip. Hope you are ready for winter in the American Midwest. Good time to be near a hot crucible. Omaha is actually a pretty happening place these days. The past ten years or so has seen a great deal of redevelopment in the downtown area. Once again, the artists found cheap warehouse space to work and live and now the place is over run with hip bars, eateries and galleries. You might want to check out the Joslyn Art Museum http://www.joslyn.org/. A number of big name artists like Jun Kaneko make Omaha their home. Not to mention big money people like Warren Buffet. DesMoines, Iowa is another place where art has been flourishing lately. A couple hours in a different direction from Sioux Center.
Unfortunately most of the outdoor sculpture parks and gardens are closed in the dead of winter but you should still find plenty to see. If you plan to spend any time in LA I could try and connect you with a friend of mine that runs a small foundry there.

[KatyL]

I think it is the economy. In the USA, the city with the lowest unemployment is Lincoln (where I live, they are actually hard up for workers). In certain ways, Omaha (a much larger market) is the same. Believe me, it is a bubble. In the mean time there is quite a nice arts corridor between Kansas City MO, up to Chicago via Omaha. Colorado is better as far as sales of more expensive bronze art. That's really a problem. Most of my pieces run at 2000 or more, and I can't sell in this area, I have to get to Colorado. It's an 8 hour drive and we get there often. If you want to see lots of foundries you need to go outside Denver. I am not sure how easy it is to pick up one on one instruction. As an American, if I wanted to see art (sculpture) I would go to D.C. or New York. My favorite has been the Hirshorn Sculpture gardens. I used to live near D.C. and used to go to the big museums in the capitol every weekend. It all depends on what you want.

By the way, You are traveling through ta big sculpture zone when you hit Colorado. I don't know exactly what kind of sculpture you are interested in, but the Denver area is crazy with figurative art, usually bronze. There are lots of good art foundries just outside of Denver in small towns surrounding. I assume you have a schedule you must keep to.

[PeterG]

Thanks for the info.. Katy, I'd love to see the Robert Duncan collection but I should first try and chasem down the guys in Omaha with the foundry.

I think by the time we get there we will be hanging out for some cold weather. We will be very happy to miss out on the worst of the Australian summer. There's nothing like welding in all the gear when it's 110F.....not to mention pouring bronze.

EJB, we will try and fit some of those galleries in to the schedule....its just starting to take shape.... Unfortunately, apart from being the entry point, we will not be spending time in LA.

In terms of art, I like steel, glass and bronze, mixed media, less human figurative, more abstract and natural form representations.

Arts "corridors" are an interesting concept. I am in Perth (Western side) and the nearest significant population centre (+100000) is a 2700Km drive. I guess that makes us an arts blob.

My problem with holidays is that I'm rarely happy just looking. I really want to be making or learning at the same time.

Thanks again.

Peter