The end of the school year is approaching, which for many students means last minute cramming and late nights studying. This is also true for sculpture students whose reward doesn’t come in the form of a successful exam score, but rather the Pele Iron Pour.
Beginning in 2001, sculpture professor Cam Choy has hosted the Pour in the sculpture courtyard every spring semester. Saturday morning, April 24, local artists and foundry professionals including Ron Beyerstedt, Brad Hertko, Kelly Ludeking, Justin Bishop, Veronica Glidden, and UW-L sculpture students, Central High School students and their art teachers Lori Aschenbrener and Lisa Ulik, all gathered to try for a successful pour.
At the center of the pour is the Pele Cupola. A cupola is a vertical cylindrical furnace fueled by refined coal known as coke. A tapping spout in the shape of a women’s face is near the bottom. This woman represents the Hawaiian volcano goddess, Pele.
Preparation before the pour includes mold making, smashing iron, and preparing coke, along with an abundance of cleaning. “The pour was more challenging than we all thought. Prep work and clean up were exhausting, but it was all worth it,” said sculpture student Annie Kreger.
The process of mold making begins with an object the participants wish to cast. Sand is mixed with resin and catalyst, which is then pressed over the object and left to harden. A negative relief remains and receives the molten iron.
The participants are broken up into teams of about four that rotate through pouring the iron into the molds. Each team member has an important role to fill. The driver holds one end of the crucible and pours the iron into each mold. Shotgun holds the other side of the crucible and works directly with the driver. The botter taps open the spout to allow the molten iron to flow into the crucible and plugs up the spout with a clay plug. A skimmer brushes the top of the cup to remove any hardened iron. Any other team members work as spotters for the other members. “With an event like this there is always potential danger, but it ended well. A day like Saturday was a great way to end the semester,” Choy said.
As the end of the pour came a Hawaiian cheer was belted from the courtyard, “Ron is da bomb! No Ka ‘Oi! Pele! No Ka ‘Oi! Everybody! Mahalo!”
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