Sept. 27 & 28, 2024
Heritage Park, Frankenmuth, MI
The Iron Pour
How it all began​​​​​
In 2017, Stephen Hargash became the Executive Director of the Frankenmuth Arts Council and petitioned to fund a trip for eight local artists to Decorah, Iowa, to attend the "Down on the Farm" iron pour hosted by Kelly Ludeking and Ironhead. This experience ignited a passion for iron pouring among these local artists.
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In 2018, the Frankenmuth Arts Council hosted its first iron pour by contracting Ironhead and their casting crew from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. They traveled to Frankenmuth with their portable furnace and equipment, conducting a two-day pour during Country Fest in Heritage Park. The success of this event sparked what would become the Frankenmuth Fire Arts Festival.
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The event inspired many local artists, including Gary Gavit, who spearheaded the creation of the groups own blast furnace. This led to the formation of Alien Iron Art Castings LLC. In the spring of 2019, Alien Iron conducted their first test pour at Gary Gavit's home. Later that year, the Frankenmuth Arts Council hosted their second Iron Pour at the Star of the West green space. Alien Iron utilized their new furnace for their first public event. Two members of Iron Head assisted Alien Iron's newly formed crew to supervise this first pour.
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In 2020, the event was paused due to COVID-19. However, in 2021, the Frankenmuth Fire Arts Festival was officially born and hosted at the Frankenmuth Farmers Market. The event expanded to include glass and raku workshops. By 2022, more workshops and entertainment were added. In 2023, the festival had grown beyond the capacity of the Frankenmuth Farmers Market, prompting a move to Heritage Park. This transition allowed for the addition of new activities such as potter's wheel, candle making, blacksmithing, chainsaw carving, artisan vendors, live music, and flaming and smoked cocktails.
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The relationship between Alien Iron and the Frankenmuth Arts Council, facilitated by Stephen Hargash, has been instrumental in promoting and encouraging art in our local community.
Featured Visiting Artist
Kelly Ludeking
Visiting Artist, Iron Pour Specialist
and Iron Pour Guru
Manifesting collaborative and individual artistic visions in the cast metal, glass and welded arts.
Kelly graduated from Minneapolis College of Art & Design (MCAD) in 1997 with a BFA in sculpture and furniture design. Here he was introduced to the feral fires of iron casting and the precision of fine furniture crafting. Ludeking has participated in, facilitated and hosted hundreds of iron pours since. In 2008 he co-founded Ironhead Sculptural Services, LLC, a traveling iron foundry that shares the art and appreciation of cast iron sculpture and performances with local community members.
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KRL metals is his personal artist business where he explores intimate creative processes from mould making to molten mayhem to masterpieces. He also teaches welding to garden sculpture aficionados, hosts aluminum medallion pours for family reunions & corporate events and co-creates with visionaries to usher their ideas into the world.
In recent years, as academic access to iron casting has declined, Ludeking has branched out as a consultant in the cast iron world. He guides artists through the process of building their own furnace, running it for the first time & troubleshooting the fluid nature of coke-operated cupolas & cupolettes.
His love for sharing cast iron art & processes lead him to begin an annual event on his family farm in NE Iowa, USA. Since 2004 artists have traveled from all over the world to the Ludeking estate for camping, community and cast-iron festivities.
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Iron Pour Fire Performance
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