This week, at the monthly Kentuck Art Night, things might be a little warmer in the Courtyard of Wonders at the Kentuck Art Center. Kentuck will host a metal casting workshop in addition to their usual Art Night this Thursday
Shweta Gamble, executive director of Kentuck, said this isn’t something that usually occurs at Art Night.
“We will have this very visual workshop out in the courtyard,” Gamble said. “This Art Night is bigger than usual, with three exhibits and the workshop.”
Resident artists will have their studios open as well as the Clay Place community clay studio and the Gallery Shop.
The process of metal working usually involves the pouring of iron, which Lee McKee, instructor of the workshop, said is a very laborious task, as it takes all day to heat the furnace. McKee said he will be pouring aluminum during the workshop at Kentuck, which is much easier to work with.
Scratch blocks will be used to decorate a mold, and then hot metal will be poured into the mold to create whatever design was created.
“With this project you’re starting out with a block of sand and putting all your creativity into it to carve into the sand,” McKee said. “It’s almost like Christmas, you never know exactly what you’re going to get. You’ve done the best you could and you hope you’ve gotten a good casting out of it.”
Gamble said McKee approached Kentuck with the idea to host the workshop.
“He has a portable furnace and lesson, and offered to come to Kentuck,” Gamble said. “We offer a metal casting workshop with Sloss Furnaces and demonstrations by the Alabama Forge Council at the Kentuck Festival each year. We were delighted to be able to offer this workshop with Lee, and hope to continue offering them in the future.”
McKee usually uses his portable furnace when teaching science history in local schools.
“We go into schools and use art as a vehicle to teach kids that are usually non-responsive to traditional education,” McKee said. “They get to get their hands dirty and absorb the information.”
McKee said when he teaches these classes, the kids are given the science of how the metal is cast, the processes it goes through and information about the heat and thermal reactions.
“We’re able to give them a sense of history and where they came from and the whole time they’re doing a piece of art, and don’t realize they’re learning,” McKee said.
Participants in the workshop get their choice of making a bowl or platter for $45, or a tile for $15. The metal pouring will begin at 8 p.m., and all participants in the workshop must have their molds finished prior to this time. For more information call (205) 758-1257 or email [email protected].
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