Candace Carmichael Memorial, “Everyone Can Be an Artist” 2012

Cast bronze (lost wax, sand mold process)

Oakland Cemetery, Iowa City IA

This custom work was created based on the art work of Candace Carmichael, the artist and art teacher who taught in the Iowa City Community School District and passed on in 2011.   Her quilts, paintings, sculptures as well as meaningful family symbolism and love for travel were incorporated into these two pieces as her grave memorial;  a bronze quilt with her portrait, and an Eiffel Tower sculpture containing symbols of her life and family.

See parts of the creation process below:

A drawing is created and the wax is laid over the drawing.  The wax is heated and carved in a raised relief form based on the design.  At the foundry, a plaster or sand mold is made of the wax sculpture, which is burned away and a hollow shape is left, allowing the cavity to be filled with molten bronze.  The sculpture’s surface then has to be refined, sanded and polished.  Finally, a patina (chemical compound) is painted on the metal to enhance its color and help define the texture.

For 3d work, drawings and a model of the sculpture are built beforehand.  An armature (the framework around which the sculpture is built) is then created.  Here, I used building styrofoam and spray styrofoam in layers, like a cake, and shaved the layers down into the shape of the Eiffel Tower.

Iowa City High Little Hawk Alumni Memorial, 2014

Cast Bronze

Iowa City High School, Iowa City IA

This piece was custom created by two City High alumni donors, and depicts the architecture of the City High tower and the school’s mascot, the Little Hawk.   The bronze was duplicated and is in two places within the school grounds, one is inside the building in the main foyer of the school, the other is near the football field press box.