The second biennial Iron Casting Symposium was held October 9th through the 12th at the Indianapolis Art Center (IAC) located on the south bank of the White River near 67th and College. According to one of the symposium's organizers Bernie Carreno, this year's event had 90 participants, 30 more than in 2006. Most of the participants were from universities from Indiana to the east coast. The Friday and Saturday night iron pours were the main focus of the gathering. The IAC parking lot was transformed into a stage for the labor intensive and dangerous choreographed tasks of creating art from scrap iron. Several local foundries and businesses donated supplies. Six tall furnaces were erected in the parking lot. These furnaces were capable of producing 150 pound of molten iron every 10 minutes. Previously prepared sacks of scrap iron were loaded into the furnaces which heated the metal to about 2700 degrees Fahrenheit.

Hundreds of molds were lined up in front of the ovens, a few at a time, to receive the liquid iron. Some molds were carved, some were sand castings and other were lost wax molds. The pouring started around 8 P.M. and continued into the wee hours of the morning.

At 7 P.M. Saturday evening I was present for the unmolding of a piece by IAC student Tanya Jones. The piece had been poured at 1 A.M. the night before and it was still too hot to touch after the mold was sledgehammered away.

Around 8 P.M. the pouring began. Molds were lined up - small and large. Some molds were just a few inches across while others were several feet, requiring hundreds of pounds of iron to fill them. I was allowed to photograph this process until it became too dangerous for spectators to mingle among the sprays of hot metal.

A large group had gathered on the upper deck of the Art Center east entrance to watch the pouring and to await the start of the Pyrotechics show. The show opened with fire magician Douglas Jave. His performance included fire eating and juggling. IAC instructor Julie Ball's performance art was titled Burning Tree. She placed a section of a tree in a stand and two head-to-toe clad workers poured molten iron into the stand. Sparks flew high into the air as the tree burst into flames.

Students from Bowling Green State University in Ohio prepared sand molds of their faces. Iron was poured into the open molds and each student stuck an iron rod into the molten iron. Soon after, sledgehammers broke the molds from the still red hot iron, the rods now affixed to the pieces. The students lifted their iron faces up and paraded around for the audience. The facial features were eerily visible through the bright orange glow.

I recommend that you attend the 2010 iron pour...and be sure to bring bug repellent. The Indiana mosquitoes are fierce down by the river.