University of Maryland professor John Ruppert presented his art students with blowtorches, scrap metal and giant molds — supplies to create sculptures sometimes too big and too earthy for the indoors. Mr. Ruppert and the other artists wore leather bibs, plastic helmets and face shields while pouring molten metal into molds on Saturday. “We all look like evil warriors,” he said.
He told these “industrial” artists: “If anyone wants to participate in the iron pour, they have to come with their own iron.”
Students brought broken radiators and other scraps on campus to shovel into furnaces that are fueled by processed coal and reach temperatures of 3200 degrees.
Once a semester, Mr. Ruppert and professor Steve Jones bring together students, professors and enthusiasts to pool their talents.
“It takes a lot of human effort,” Mr. Ruppert said. “It’s a community-building event because everyone works together.”
He said the group poured 20 to 30 molds weighing from 10 to 1,000 pounds. Almost 60 spectators and participants were at the sculpture yard during the daylong event.
Mr. Ruppert, chairman of the university’s art department, and students in his metal-casting class prepared a week in advance. The students learn to build molds out of sand and to cast objects from materials such as aluminum, bronze, iron and copper.
Artists occasionally break out a piece of the mold and are surprised with the hardened result, Mr. Ruppert said. They cut off screws, cups and other items that helped pour metal into the mold, then grind or file the sculptures to a finish.
Though many of Mr. Ruppert’s students will not pursue careers in metal sculpting, he said, they learn how materials work and gain experience in iron pours.
He noted that graduate student Christian Benefiel travels the country pouring iron and sculpting.
Mr. Ruppert sculpts with mud, chain-link fence, stone and various metals. His work has been displayed around the world, including his 40-by-40-foot suspended sculpture “Wind” at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
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