gratitude: bronze wheel casting

The theme for the week is gratitude. Last week I made a resin bonded sand mold from the pattern I made earlier in the week. I was thinking about how fortunate I was to spend time with Chuck Kraus while I was in Milwaukee. He was so generous with his time and knowledge at a time when I was just trying to figure out how to teach. He welcomed me into the Sculpture community and made certain that I had exposure to all sorts of things that he had been doing for years in his personal work. He was exceptional at sharing everything he knew. 

As I look back on the time I spent with him, it's like I had an entire second graduate school experience while I was working at UWM with Chuck. It's interesting to look back through life and realize that there are hundreds of people that move in and out of one's life, but there are other people that come into your life and make such a strong and indelible mark that it seems like a supernatural experience. As I've grown older I realize that God seems to orchestrate these encounters, events and especially relationships. 

I am deeply grateful for the time I spent with Chuck when I lived in Milwaukee. He most likely doesn't know the impact that he has made on me and on my teaching and the extent to which a value him and the things he taught me. But it's moments like this, when I am ramming a mold, or pouring metal that he comes to mind and I think of how I wouldn't know ANY of this if it weren't for him. Thank you, Chuck.

casting with I.D. students

I'm doing an independent study with two Industrial Design students this semester. Last semester Austin asked me last semester if I would do the independent study as a class and then Casey asked me over winter break if I would be her mentor. They are both working on their Senior capstone course so they have a show at the the end of the semester where they present their work and research. Casey is doing a lighting project and Austin is doing the electric motorcycle. I'm really enjoying the interactions with them both We have great conversations about design and process and I've found myself engaged in some philosophical conversations about what it means to be a maker of things. They are both hungry to learn things and last week asked for a casting demo. They also showed me their timeline for creating their work. It's interesting working with them as some parts of the teaching is similar to my art students and other parts are radically different. It's not the first time I've encountered this during my years of teaching, but I would generalize that the majority of the design students from industrial design and architecture have been more engaged with their own work than the art students as a whole. Don't get me wrong, I have had some amazing art students who were super engaged, but it's just not the case with the majority of art students I've taught. I walk away from these interactions and wonder what the difference is between the student groups that causes this phenomenon. 

This semester I do know... that teaching motorcycle design just happens to be of extreme interest to me. I feel like I am drawing from close to thirty years of obsessing about, reading, and looking at motorcycles so I find the conversations to be easy to facilitate. I went back and looked at some of the pictures of building my triumph chopper when I was in school and I feel like I've learned a lot since then and I've been telling the Austin how lucky he is to live in a time where so many things can be manufactured via a desktop/laptop and some low price CNC machines.

I wish I could do classes like this all the time. I'm not getting paid or getting any credit for teaching this course, but that's ok. It's just fun to know that I'm helping to facilitate something that Austin and Casey are into and I hope the experience helps them get a good job in the future.

samantha hatchett

Samantha Hatchett is one on my students who just graduated last semester. She just sent me a link to her new website. She is combining crochet and cast metal in a unique way to create wearable objects. 

 

ali's castings

Olivia and I went into school on Saturday to assist Ali in casting a spoon and fork for her final Senior exhibition. We cast the handle ends in bronze and the opposite ends in silver. There was a little pitting and a freeze at the tip, but Ali had that freeze happen on the past fork and had already decided to roll with it as she was not spruing closer to the tips of the tines to ensure this not happen again. She was happy with the result and will be assembling these to complete the multiple sets for the exhibition.

Liv had a great time assisting with the vacuum and seeing the watery consistency of the molten metal. We hung out all day and grabbed tacos; then we went home and worked in the studio while Milo and her played/chilled in the front yard. Noah was at work at the golf course and Jill and Maya were taking a seminar at church.

 

casting an aluminum engine block

 

Another good video showing the casting of an aluminum engine block. This would be good inspiration for my dream of making a replica Miller racer and making the engine from scratch...

3d scanning, cnc milling, mold making, and casting

We've been having fun in my casting course lately. The students are reinterpreting the cameo and making some new work utilizing 3D scanning and CNC milling. They learned how to scan and then how to use the Taig CNC to mill high density foam for making plaster molds for slush casting wax. Then they learned how to make investment molds from the waxes for lost wax/centrifugal casting. Students then have to combine these cast components with fabricated components. I'm anxious to see this new work in it's completed state.