The First and Last in Bronze

During my work placement in Scotland at the Powderhall Fine Art Fabricators, the work I did there was primarily in the wax room. This was a fascinating experience as it allowed me to observe the advantages of working in a highly adaptable medium like wax. Compared to other materials-such as metal- mistakes made in wax are significantly easier to rectify, while also using far less energy to produce. However, the foundry owner also wanted me to have the opportunity to work on metal and were willing to let me use their facilities to practise metalwork on my own casts. This was an amazing opportunity and as part of my work placement, Powderhall Fine Art have kindly offered to cast one of my own pieces in bronze. Once my piece is cast, I will have an opportunity to go back up after the pandemic has subsided to do the metalwork as discussed.

Having my work cast in bronze is an excellent opportunity to practice traditional sculpture and to add to my portfolio. If the process goes well, I intend to put the finished piece towards a fine art competition called the International Emerging Art Contest.

Something I had to consider when thinking about using bronze casting in my creative practice is that it is not an environmentally conscientious method. It uses substantial amounts of energy as a process, expensive raw materials, lots of water and fossil fuels. As such, as beautiful as the end product can be, and as exciting as it is to be able to have one of my own pieces cast using this process, it is not a method that I intend to use regularly in my own practice.

Initial design sketches:

The sculpture sample I designed will put my knowledge to the test; I chose a form that would be difficult to cast and replicate because it has an asymmetrical shape, faint seam lines, fine details and undercuts.