Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
Sheffield Hallam University
Integral cast vessels and caskets
This research explores the potential of combining precious with ferrous and non-ferrous metals in the making of decorative applied art objects. Using the ancient process of integral casting, it involved the production of both test samples and larger scaled 'finished' artefacts to identify the challenges, implications, and inconsistencies of this process when applied to different scales of production in the context of the craft-making workshop. Although advanced techniques of integral casting are used in the dental and aerospace industries with various material combinations, this is achieved through extremely controlled manufacturing conditions that are generally outside the scope of the typical craft workshop.
Applications in metal applied arts practice have been commonly limited to combining either mixed precious or non-ferrous metals. Ferrous metal particles are a severe contaminant to precious metals and their associated fabrication/finishing processes. This study expands material and process understanding by combining precious metals with a broader range of non-precious and ferrous metals, and through the testing of commonly accessible finishing compounds and methods examines the craft-making parameters. The vessels and caskets made in response to material and process testing reflect on and extend initial research undertaken in the 1990s into the production of sculptural site specific and smaller decorative objects, employing the integral casting of CNC stainless steel components into cast bronze forms. Early works are in a private collection in London and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.
Material samples, process documentation and artefacts were exhibited at ‘Beneath the Skin’ (SIA Gallery, Sheffield 2011/ Galerie Marzee, Nijmegen 2012). Vessels and Caskets were exhibited at COLLECT, Saatchi Gallery (London 2009/10), SOFA (New York 2010), Silverstruck, (Ruthin Craft Centre & National Museum of Wales 2011) and Cheungju Craft Biennale (Korea 2013). Invited lectures include Crafts Council Curators Day (2009), Master-class, University of Ulster and public lecture Ulster Museum (2010).
