Alfred's foundry spirit returns

The Alfred community poured their heart out in the second annual charity event held at the National Casting Center, located at 1016 Route 244 in Alfred, on Saturday, Feb. 12.

The event, which is presented by the New York State College of Ceramics, was open for free to adults and children. People visiting the event could engage in open molding sessions, place bets in an open raffle and bid in a silent auction. All proceeds from these activities will be donated directly to the local A.E. Crandall Hook & Ladder company, as well as the international nonprofit organization Doctors Without Borders. This is the second year in this event’s history, stemming from the tremendous success of last year's “Pour for Haiti” event, which raised over $5000 for relief efforts following Haiti’s devastating earthquake.

So how did this seemingly tiny event end up raising so much money? It all started last year with Walner Edmond, a student in the School of Art & Design at Alfred University. Edmond’s father lives in Haiti and he experienced the worst of the quake. While his father lost his home, thankfully he survived, and Edmond decided that he wanted to help others in the relief effort. He joined the Foundry Guild in creating a fund-raising event, hoping that he could help contribute.

The event ended up being a huge success, so much so that the students who organized it proposed it become an annual occurrence.

“People were pouring in right at 2:01,” declared Tim Peters, a fellow Art & Design student and a major organizer for the event.

The unexpectedly large turnout ensured that the foundry was packed all afternoon, but the success did not stop there. Like this year’s event, a silent auction was held to help the fund raising, where students and faculty alike donated some of their artistic endeavors to be placed up for bid.

“Last year, the highest bid we got was over $200,” explained Peters. This year, some pieces were going for nearly just as much, with one spectacular sculpture made by a junior selling for over $160.

“There was such a good crowd last year that we wanted to do it again. And, the community wanted us to do it again too,” added Peters.

And indeed, the community did show their love for the fundraising event again with this year’s Valentines theme. Participants once again showed up right at 2 p.m. and with a small donation of $10, could immediately get their hands on a “scratch block,” a small, square-shaped mold with an indented center. With some specific tools and a little bit of patience, participants could “scratch” into the block a design or drawing of their choice. Then, students would take the molds, prepare them for the casting process and proceed to very carefully pour hot, molten iron into them. The entire process is highly organized, with several individuals operating different roles, each one just as crucial as the next.

“The goal here is to get the students involved as much as possible,” explained Coral Lambert, a professor of sculpture at Alfred University and the head of the Foundry Guild.

Because the whole event is a result of all the work and effort contributed by the students, Lambert feels that events like these are great opportunities for them as practicing artists, too.

“It really is a good way of getting the students involved in their community,” Lambert added. And this, she believes, is very important for a developing artist.

After all the molds were cast, the pot containing the molten metal returned to its container, and the onlooking crowd erupted into cheer. A job well-done was issued to everyone that helped in the process and the casted molds were set aside to cool, so that participants could receive their intricate relief sculptures to keep by the end of the day.

Caleb Fletcher, a sophomore in the Art & Design program and a fellow organizer to the event, calls metal casting, “The most badass art form there is. There’s no better thing to do in art than this.”

That same passion and enthusiasm roared on in the students through the whole day and into the night, when firefighters from the Alfred Fire Department made a guest visit as the event was winding down. While 50 percent of the charity is going to Doctors Without Borders, the other half of the proceeds is going to Alfred’s own volunteer-based fire department. Just before the event ended, the students and faculty of the foundry gathered together to honor the fire department by awarding them a casted metal sculpture, designed and created by Art & Design student Chelsea Baufford.