Exploring the Iron Age with SAIC’s Foundry

On a sunny day in July, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) students gathered for an event that harkened back to the Iron Age.

The class Foundry Projects: Iron Casting participated in an iron casting in the courtyard of the 280 Building, melting the metal to approximately 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit and pouring it into sculpture molds. In SAIC’s Foundry, students learn how to work with metal including bronze and aluminum—and once a year, they gather to work with iron. We showed up to catch the class in action.