“Rivers of iron!” *
Canadian Society of Contemporary Iron Arts – CSCIA – is a non-profit collective/assembly of creatives promoting experimentation in contemporary iron arts. The purpose of the society is to promote the contemporary transformative processes in Canada through events and education. It aims to create opportunities to cast iron artworks and to meld historical industrial methods with modern artisanal processes, with a variety of mouldmaking and metal casting events for members and the greater public community.
Headquartered in Hamilton Ontario – a city long associated to metal works, and now a creative hub, CSCIA was born from long-time musing and materialized during the lull created by early pandemic restrictions. CSCIA connects to the networks of an international iron-casting artist community, active south of the border and in Europe through conferences and iron pour events.
The metal is sourced by recycling materials from demolitions and renovations, a re-use which lends special meaning to the process of making and artworks themselves.
Our iron furnace, Ruby, is a transportable cupolette furnace available and eager to demonstrate the almost alchemic transformation of discarded iron into molten glowing heat to sculptural and performance artworks which provoke and delight.
Ruby's first public performance took place June 10 2023 at the Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology, where flames, heat, and the choreography of solid metal to liquid orange hot liquid to filling moulds enthralled folks. Many took home iron disks and tiles of their own design, made from open-faced "scratch moulds". And our art exhibition at the Paul Elia Gallery showcasing a wide range of iron related sculptures, video and interactive works by CSCIA members was a Hamilton Arts Week Signature Event! So thrilling to have so many show up and respond to the artworks. A video of the 2023 pour and the digital catalogue of the art exhibition are available under our events page. https://www.cscia.ca/our-events/
Looks like we'll be back June 2024 for another iron pour! There will be some mould making opportunities – from simple open face scratch moulds to traditional enclosed sand moulds - leading up to this metal pour event. Check out our table at the April and May Hamilton Artwalks for scratch moulds!
For more info, or to contact us, check out the CSCIA website
Hope you can join us sometime! Stay tuned for more details on upcoming events.
* exclamation by Tom Doughty – founding member and fabricator – upon seeing molten iron flow out during Ruby’s inaugural melt in November 2021
