Foundry

Through the Pilot Art Foundry in Launceston, Tasmania, David Hamilton cast works for other artists: with Pat Hickman he made the five entrance gates of the Maui Arts & Cultural Centre, Hawaii, Nets of Makali‘i (1994); he cast Ju Ming's bronze Overcoming Adversities, which stands at the entrance of the SAFTI Military Institute, Singapore (made in 1994, completed in 1995); and panels by Ron Kowalke for the Hawaii Convention Centre, Honolulu (1998).

From 2012 to 2014 he established a bronze casting foundry and ran workshops at Badu Island Art Centre, Torres Strait. The films show sand casting and lost wax casting; the lost wax moulds were for the Paris Boats.

Using a pouring shank, Hamilton and Boldkald pour the molten bronze into the moulds holding wax-covered cardboard figurines. — Sculpture foundry, UTAS Launceston, 2017. Photo: Phillip Biggs, The Examiner

Maui gates

Maui Arts & Cultural Centre, Kahului, Hawaii1994With Pat Hickman

One of a series of pairs of site-specific sculptural Entry Gates commissioned by the Maui Arts & Cultural Centre, Kahului, Hawaii in 1994, with design artist Pat Hickman and sculptor David Hamilton, Head of the Pilot Foundry at the University of Tasmania at Launceston, who fabricated and installed the Gates. Detail of a portion of one of the Gate panels, sand-cast in solid patinated aluminium from foam sheets tied by the artist.

The Maui Gates video relates to a large sand casting commission undertaken in the Sculpture Studio at UTAS Launceston. The innovative technique involves casting using the flame vapourisation process.

Films: "The Gates", 1995, Hui Productions for Hawaii Public Television; edited and directed by Richard Tibbetts, Jr., produced by Elaine Zinn. Gates by Pat Hickman.

The Gates

Nets of Makali‘i, the entrance gates of the Maui Arts & Cultural Centre, Hawaii, 1994

One of a series of pairs of site-specific sculptural Entry Gates commissioned by the Maui Arts & Cultural Centre, Kahului, Hawaii in 1994, with design artist Pat Hickman and sculptor David Hamilton, Head of the Pilot Foundry at the University of Tasmania at Launceston, who fabricated and installed the Gates

Detail of a portion of one of the Gate panels, sand-cast in solid patinated aluminium from foam sheets tied by the artist

Overcoming Adversities

Ju Ming. Bronze cast by David Hamilton at Pilot Art Foundry, Launceston. Made in 1994, completed in 1995. Entrance to the SAFTI Military Institute, Singapore.

A foundry worker in a respirator shaping a mould section of Overcoming Adversities in the Pilot Art Foundry workshop — Casting process

David Hamilton and a colleague guiding a cast bronze section of Overcoming Adversities on chains in the foundry — Casting process

The cast bronze sections of Overcoming Adversities assembled in the Pilot Art Foundry workshop — Casting process

Ju Ming’s Overcoming Adversities installed at the entrance to SAFTI Military Institute, Singapore — Installation

Detail of the angular bronze surface of Ju Ming's Overcoming Adversities at SAFTI Military Institute — Detail

Ju Ming's Overcoming Adversities at the entrance to SAFTI Military Institute, with flagpoles behind it — Installation view, 2020LCP Gerald Ng / Singapore Army News, issue 259, 2020

Windows of Fire

Cast by Pilot Art Foundry at UTAS Launceston. Windows of Fire, by Ron Kowalke, a commission from the Hawaii State Foundation for the Arts in 1998 to create a unique installation at the Honolulu Convention Center. Windows of Fire consists of three aluminum panels cast from actual pa hoe hoe lava from the Big Island, with red neon peeking out from each panel. The panels were equipped with a device that vibrated in concert with quakes associated with an emerging undersea island at the tail of the Hawaiian island chain known as the Loihi Seamount. Viewers placed their hands on the cast panels and could feel seismic vibrations. Each panel H183 × W62 × D25 cm.

One cast aluminium panel of Windows of Fire, its surface the folds of pa hoe hoe lava — One panel

Techniques

These videos outline a range of various metal casting techniques used in the production of sculpture.

Sand casting techniquesVimeo ↗This commissioned sand casting process uses sodium silicate binder to take prints from an original polystyrene pattern.

Lost wax castingVimeo ↗A brief video following through the technique of lost wax metal casting using solid investment moulds. The moulds were for a series of bronze sculptures titled Paris Boats.