Mesalands hosts 19th annual Iron Pour

Artists from near and far have made their way to Tucumcari to participate in Mesalands Community College's 19th annual Iron Pour.

"Even in its 19th year, the Iron Pour has continued to draw in art enthusiasts," said D'Jean Jawrunner, event coordinator/founder.

A week-long event of mold building, art shows and events will take place for Mesalands' Iron Pour, culminating with the pouring of 4,000 pounds of molten iron.

The foundry building at Mesalands was alive with activity as more than 20 artists from different parts of the country worked on their molds.

Jawrunner said more artists are expected to arrive during the week. She said this year's group of participants include many returning artists as well as some who are attending the event for the first time.

"I have known D'Jean for several years and finally decided to come out and see what she has been doing," said Jeane Rowan of Ashville, North Carolina.

Rowan said she made the trip to Tucumcari with another friend of Jawrunner, Ellen Heinberg of Ashville.

The prospect of learning a form of metal casting in an environment of supportive and friendly artists is what drew me to this event, said Victoria Herbst of Houston, Texas.

Herbst said she came to the Iron Pour with her former University of Northern Texas classmate Charlotte Kimball. She said Kimball had told her about how friendly the artists and community were during the event.

Jawrunner said so far, there are five newcomers to the event. She said it's always nice to see new faces at the event, but she looks forwards to spending time with those returning artists who have become like family.

"My husband, Bob, and I enjoyed the event so much last year we just had to come back," said Sue Milton of Richardson, Texas.

Milton said this year, her inspiration for her art work is the notion that she is going to become a first-time grandmother. She said the pieces she is creating are based off the book "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak.

"I read the book to my son when he was a child; I can only hope it inspires him to carry on the tradition," Milton said.

Bob Milton said the project he is working on this year is a concept design of a 1938 steam locomotive. He said the sleek designed train will include the engine, an observation car and a passenger car.

In her fifth year of attending the event, Albuquerque native Candy Nortonis said she is working on an art series that will use lotus pods made at the Iron Pour.

Nortonis said she has been an artist for several years, primarily painting and installation art pieces. She said the Iron Pour allows her to incorporate a new art medium into her work.

"The staff and fellow artists have been so helpful in teaching me the art of molten iron," Nortonis said.

While the artists were busy creating molds out of wax and sand Jawrunner was working on dipping wax molds into a ceramic slurry.

"It's just like frying chicken," Jawrunner said. "First you roll the chicken in egg then in the four. In this case, we did the mold in the ceramic slurry then into silica sand."

Jawrunner said this process is repeated every three hours in order to create a high quality ceramic shell that is 1/4 inch thick around the mold. She said the shell will then be placed into a flash burn furnace that will melt the wax out and leave the mold for the iron to fill.

The event is being held throughout the week, culminating in the pouring of molten metal on Friday at Mesalands.