Iron is in our blood. It has a presence, elemental, humble, and of great substance.

The first sculpture I cast in iron was a human heart. I wanted to make the sculpture from the same material that makes up our blood. It is relationships; between forms, between mold and form, artist and viewer, self and culture, that move me. The most profound of these are spiritual.

What I love about ironcasting is the absolute fluidity between process and creation. When the sculpture is formed by the sand mold, a history is begun, and continued, through pouring and finishing and the reshaping of visual experience as different people see it. It is this aspect of ironcasting that seduced me, that every part of the process is fertile with possibility.

In Mare Fecunditatus (Sea of Fertility), the baby form is cast bronze, and the lotus pod was sand molded and cast in iron. When my son was born, he naturally assumed the position of the baby in the sculpture, feet clasped together as if they were hands.

Cast iron, bronze, gold leaf, 22" x 23" x 25", 2006

Berllanderi Crew

Mare Fecunditatus was created at the Berllanderi Sculpture Workshop during a sand casting symposium, as part of the 5th International Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art. Organized by Harvey Hood, the director of Berllanderi, participants included; Andrew Griffiths, Cynthia Handel, Robert Harding, Charles Hook, Dilys Jackson, Hanna Jubran, Deborah La Grasse, Michael Marriott, Robert Mitchell, Ken Payne, Linda Walsh and Tom Walsh. I could not have completed this sculpture without the help of everyone there - Thank You!

Harvey Hood - Berllanderi Sculpture Workshop