Katies Studying Abroad

Monday, September 27, 2010

Thank You Everyone!!!


The Team!

(L-R: Aga, Carissa Samaniego, Toma Villa, Tamsie Ringler, Jessica MacWithey, Aga Sulek, Miles Browne)

Thank you!

Abigail Quigley McCarthy Center for Women Opportunities and Initiatives Grant

Arts Council of Wales

Berllanderi Sculpture Workshop

Custom Tube Company

Sculpture Cymru

St. Catherine University Undergraduate Program Research Grant

St. Catherine University Faculty Travel Award

Senate/St. Kate's Activity Team Student Advancement Fund

Starseed Foundation

West Wales School of the Arts

Transmission Pour Video

Transmission: Palus Somnii (Marsh of Sleep)



Palus Somnii (Marsh of Sleep) was cast during the 6th International Conference of Contemporary Cast Iron Art in Kidwelly, Wales in July 2010. Using a stripped Vauxhall Corsa as a flask, molten iron was poured directly into the vehicle’s interior. The act of the pour itself, or “Transmission,” was intended to redescribe the car in relation to the material of its own creation and our own experience. The public iron pour presented an elemental material and an ordinary vehicle as explosive spectacle, similar to the explosive introduction of petroleum into our culture and environment. Once unmolded, the car and its interior forms of a Mississippi River carp and giant horsetails became a narrative about cars and their relationship to the environment; specifically their reliance on fossil fuels derived from primordial sources and our reliance on increasingly scarce and environmentally destructive fuel resources.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

links to great sites to check out

6th International Conference of Contemporary Cast Iron Art Website

http://www.internationalfe10.com/

Foundry Tree

http://foundrytree.wikispaces.com/

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

easy does it

























































The pour crew was awesome and had to plan a pouring method for the car. I found it fascinating to watch these guys do this. It is extremely important to plan the route of a pour ahead of time since this is a team effort. This pour required special focus on how to get the ladle, which is like a giant bowl that holds the iron, from point a (the furnace) to point b (up on scaffolding above the car.) I do believe they pretest first with each person who was doing the pour.

It was a fireworks show. The pour crew did an awesome job. I was proud of all the hard work and thought that was required by them. It was nuts - they poured into a car in the dark - omg they might as well be doing it blindfolded. I was dumbstruck.




Tuesday, July 20, 2010

WOW












































































We didn’t get to see the results until the next day. But it was so cool. I felt like an archeologist, brushing, shoveling and digging sand out to unearth a hidden masterpiece. The sand was still hot the next morning when we opened the doors - rivers of black sand came slowly streaming out. The toxins in the air required us to wear face masks. Even though this is not my piece I felt very much affected by the meaning behind the piece and was equally amazed as well at how successful the results were.

almost there





















































After we removed all of the firebricks and sand, Toma and Miles put the tires on and we rolled it to be seen from the street. Though this sounds like a quick and easy process it was far from that. We had to clean all but a quarter of the sand out then move the sand that others could reuse back over to where most of the iron pours were going on. Wow - all I remember was the three or four of us pushing the giant all-terrain palette truck up an incline saying “RUN RUN RUN!” Wow - such a great crew.