Sparks are flying at JCC!
Sparks will fly on the campus of Johnston Community College Friday, November 30 when student and professional artists from JCC and East Carolina University take part in the college’s first-ever iron pour.
Mike Hill, a JCC graduate who is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in fine art from ECU, organized the event which he says depicts the most dramatic phase of the iron casting process in art. “Most people just love to see hot metal itself,” Hill says. “There are sparks and flames so you can somewhat look at it as a performance light show but we also just so happen to be making art with it. The community will have an opportunity to make an iron sculpture and carry it home and it’s not every day that you get to do that.”
Hill, a Fremont native, collected some 1,500 pounds of scrap metal from old cast iron sinks and tubs and spent two months making the furnace, called a coupla, to use for the pour. This is Hill’s third furnace creation; he donated the others to ECU and the University of
Oklahoma for students to use for iron casting instruction.
This time, he said, he wanted to share his knowledge and introduce students at JCC to the unique art form. “I know the students here don’t really have a facility for casting metal, and I wanted to give them the opportunity to see the process and participate in it,” Hill said. Hill said he enjoys iron casting because of the teamwork the art requires. “It’s a somewhat simple process, but you have to be very meticulous about it and it takes everyone paying attention to what’s going on.” John Byrd, director of the fine art and graphic design program at JCC, praised Hill for his success. “Mike is a great person and his excitement for his art is obvious just by talking with him,” Byrd said. “He was a wonderful student while here at JCC and I know Mike will be successful at anything he attempts. Mike has set the bar very high for any of JCC’s students who follow in his footsteps at ECU.”
Hill is bringing his sculpture professor and international artist Carl Billingsley to participate in the event. Lectures explaining the process and safety guidelines are planned from 9 a.m. until noon before preparing and heating up the furnace to some 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit for the pour which will be held until 7 p.m. Following the event, a closing reception will be held until 8 p.m. for the ECU sculpture exhibition on display in the Art
Gallery. Hill said the scrap metal will be dropped into the furnace and heated until it melts. Next, the students will pour the molten metal into molds and create cast-iron sculptures. Hill said he named the furnace for his girlfriend Nadia, which means hope, to illustrate his passion for what some consider a dying art. He has titled the pour “Iron Hope.” After the event, Hill plans to take his coupla to schools across the country for students to use for iron casting. “One of the larger aspects of this event is to show that there is hope for this art and that people can make this happen at their colleges fairly easily,” he said.
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sounds very cool! Have you sent a press release out to all news organizations? Great visuals