I am a self taught artist of 46 years. I was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1962. My family moved to Birmingham, Alabama in 1972 and my father, a former military/businessman, went to work for US Steel in Fairfield, AL. I believe it was at this point, at age 10, that I became acutely aware of what it meant to be Blue Collar, my father coming home covered from head to toe in coke dust, and that all too familiar smell of blast furnace and coke charges lingering in the air as he sat down to take off his boots. A very hard working part-time military man trying to support a wife and five kids on a steel workers wage.

I began working in Cast Iron in 1996 when I joined a group of artists working at the historical Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham. The Sloss historical committee and a group of citizens and artists put together a Metal Arts program to promote and keep alive the history of iron and the important role it played in the growth of our Magic City.

Technique:

My technique is a representation of the human expression or experience. I express my thoughts using the human figure in non-representational form, often incorporating inanimate objects to accentuate my intended thoughts. My figure’s surfaces are often rough and broken, imperfect compared to natural human flesh, and this – to me – helps build a visual emotion and adds personal character and distinction to my work.

Materials:

The materials I prefer to use vary depending on the final form of my sculpture. If my final project requires hand modeling, I normally use a Victory Brown microcrystalline wax, a sculpting was formulated for use in the lost wax process. If my final sculpture requires a mold made of various parts, I may use materials such as Plasticene (oil clay) and/or wood, paper, plastics and foam. My final sculptures are almost always in Cast Iron.

Process:

For the artist the processes involved in creating a cast metal sculpture can be lengthy. There are many steps that need to be taken which lead to the final product. In the making of a Cast Iron piece the art of sand molding is very important. This process uses a resin bonded sand material that encapsulates the original art pattern (made from some of the materials mentioned above) with a properly attached gating system (metal goes in, gasses go out). The reason I mention the art of sand molding is that most foundries catering to sculptures cast online in Bronze, which requires different materials and equipment, so the Iron Casting artist must be experienced with all phases of the process.