Kerrane to host fiery Iron Pour on Friday

Rian Kerrane, an associate professor of sculpture in the College of Arts and Media at the University of Colorado Denver, hosts Iron Pour outside the Arts Building on the Auraria Campus from dusk until 10 p.m. Friday. Scrap iron is heated to 2300 degrees or higher, becoming molten, and is then poured into molds -- while sparks and fire fill the darkening sky. The event is free and open to the public.

Kerrane created the event in 2005 to bring attention to this creative process. She describes this effort and the few others like it around the country as an underground resurgence of industrial casting in the art studio.

“Iron is the core of the earth,” she said. “Casting iron is hard work and doing it generates community. The communal aspect of doing it as a public performance makes the audience a huge part of the Iron Pour.”

The Iron Pour is a massive effort with some of the iron poured from as high as 8 feet. Kerrane describes it as being like a waterfall of iron. “It is mesmerizing,” she said. “The art is almost produced as a side effect, which is curious. The performance takes on a life of its own.”  A crew of 15-20 CU Denver students, faculty and staff are outfitted in fireproof gear to complete a number of tasks.