Annual Iron Pour
Lamar University art students collect the molten iron from the cupula furnace, March 22, at the Art Foundry. UP photo by Carlos Viloria.
Lamar University’s department of art and design held its annual Iron Pour, March 22. Students, guest professors, and alumni poured iron from a cupula furnace onto sand molds to create sculptures.
The annual event was open for the public as students, local teachers, high-schoolers, and visitors from Louisiana attended the event.
Lamar University art students pours the molten iron into a sand mold, March 22, at the Art Foundry. UP photo by Carlos Viloria.
LU sculpture professor Kurt Dyrhaug said the event has been a tradition for around 40 years and was started by former Lamar art professors Meredith Jack and Phil Fitzpatrick.
“It's a little bit more difficult these days because we don't have as many experienced people,” he said. “I’ve got a couple of students that are sculpture that are now, I think, pretty good at it. But we do need help from outside.”
Lamar art professor Kurt Dyrhaug dumps pieces of iron into the furnace, March 22, at the Art Foundry. UP photo by Carlos Viloria.
Michael Williams from Tibodeaux, Louisiana and Ann Bujold from Lafayette were on hand to add experience.
“I got a couple of alumni that came, which is just wonderful,” Dyrhaug said. “It’s kind of a magnet. Once you start pouring, you get kind of a bug, and you want to do it again.
Lamar art professor Kurt Dyrhaug presses pieces of iron into the furnace, March 22, at the Art Foundry. UP photo by Carlos Viloria.
Lamar alumni Travis Baker, who graduated in 2006, said it was enjoyable pouring iron again.
“It's a really neat thing to see,” he said. “It's not often that you could play with molten metal and make stuff. I have a couple of my sculptures still, that I made 20-some years ago.”
Participants in the Lamar art department's annual iron pour put molten metal into sand molds, March 22, at the Art Foundry. UP photo by Carlos Viloria.
Bujold works at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She said it is rare for a school to have iron casting.
“We do casting at UL, but we only do nonferrous metals,” she said. “Those are metals that don't have iron in them, like bronze and aluminum, and they melt at a lower temperature so we use a gas for it. It's not as involved as this, you don't have to have the coke fired.
“What you guys have here with Kurt is really very special and people might not know that because it's just here, so they think it's normal.”
Participants in the Lamar art department's annual iron pour put molten metal into sand molds, March 22, at the Art Foundry. UP photo by Carlos Viloria.
Allan Canto, Port Arthur junior, said he enjoyed participating in the event.
“It was a very fun experience for me, honestly,” he said. “This is my first year, but I've seen other people (have) been going here for, like, five years just to come over and be a part of this event. Being a part of the pouring crew was a very fun experience — very hot, though.”
LU student Allan Cantu uses a water hose to extinguish the fire under the cupula furnace, March 22, at the Art Foundry. UP photo by Carlos Viloria.
Dyhaug said the event was a success.
“I think it went great, perfect,” he said. “I think we got good hot iron (and) most every mold got poured.”
Once the pour was over, Dyrhaug gathered the participants in a circle. The group crouched down before rising up with loud yells to signal the pour was over.
