I Cast Iron: Olivia Curtis

I cast iron because it’s one more way to navigate the world.

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Transcript

Hi, I’m Olivia Curtis. I’m a sophomore at MassArt and I’m from Falmouth, Massachusetts.

I got into metal casting when I decided to take a foundry class we have at school. I really enjoyed it and after that I kind of fell in with the student run iron casting club on campus. I really enjoyed the dedication that goes into iron casting and I really love when I can pour hours of my time into a project. Also, along the lines of timing, iron casting is such an interesting event because you spend so much time making a mold and then, when it’s time to pour it, things happen so quickly. So, you go from being able to make very slow decisions about what you want and process those decisions and then you go into a state where decisions are happening very quickly. That relationship with time is really engaging for me.

Another big part of my process and my life is working with glass and I really think there’s a lot of room for crossover and experimentation between metal casting and working with glass, either casting it or blowing, and that’s really an area that I want to explore in my future.

I cast iron because it’s one more way to navigate the world.

Duration:

1 minute, 31 seconds

Join Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) Iron Corps student Olivia Curtis as she talks about why she casts iron.

Exhibit

Potatoes! Potatoes! Potatoes!

Olivia Curtis

With this piece I wanted to focus on the value of everyday objects.

Casting is an expensive process in both the labor and materials. I wanted to cast something that has value which isn’t recognized and elevate it.

This is also an exploration into different types of metal casting so there is a variety of “types” of potatoes.