Over the Winter Interim session at Albright, I worked with a student to build a new cupola furnace for the Sculpture Yard.

At Albright there are research opportunities called ACRE (Albright Creative Research Experience).  These are collaborative endeavors between faculty and student(s).  Where faculty or student(s) can initiate a project they have in mind.  The goal is work in collaboration, not as an assistant to a faculty member.

For this project, I sought out a student with some welding background to accomplish the construction of an iron metal furnace called a “Cupola.”  Alyssa had already made a welded metal sculpture the prior semester and seemed like a good fit.

The project started from selecting the metal for a local scrap yard, cutting and shaping the main section of the furnace, then welding all of the parts that make a cupola.

The final stage is casting the big temperature refractory (liner) in the furnace so it will be ready fro use this semester.

[supsystic-gallery id=50 position=center]