Working Potter on tue 29 apr 03
Did anyone in New England see or know about a fire that I heard a snippit on
tv news that said a fire destroyed the sculpture foundry at U of MA? The
cause was unknown from what little they said.Any hear of this up there?[my
old stompig grounds up that way]
Misty
Vince Pitelka on tue 29 apr 03
> Did anyone in New England see or know about a fire that I heard a snippit
on
> tv news that said a fire destroyed the sculpture foundry at U of MA? The
> cause was unknown from what little they said.Any hear of this up there?[my
> old stompig grounds up that way]
Misty -
Yes, I am sad to say that the UMass sculptor's foundry burned to the ground
a little over a week ago. Frank Ozereko, who occasionally posts to this
list, was my major professor in grad school at UMass Amherst, and he emailed
me right after it happened. It was most likely from a stray welding spark
which must have started a small smouldering fire that was undetected at the
end of the day, and flared up that night. The foundry was in a beautiful
ancient all-wood building. Yep, not such a great idea for a foundry. But
they had taken such good care of the place for so many years - very strict
safety rules, great safety gear, great safety record. This is really too
bad, because the 3-D media areas at UMass have really suffered recently.
They lost most of their technicians, and the faculty has been drastically
slashed over the last ten years. The art department is but a pale shadow of
what it was in the 80s when I was there.
The foundry was a major part of my grad school experience. If you go to my
website and check the "Gallery" page and go to "Early Work," the third piece
down on the left has bronze "locomotive wheels" that I cast in that foundry.
Mike Brenneman, who was the foundry technician for many years, became a dear
friend of mine and in the late 80s we played in a three-man bluegrass/cowboy
band called the Hill County Ramblers. Many were the Friday afternoons we
spent in Mike's office in the foundry loft, with our guitars and a supply of
Rollling Rock. Mike retired last year, so at least he was spared the
immediacy of this tragedy. I will be very surprised if they rebuild the
foundry. That's how bad things are there.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@dtccom.net
615/597-5376
Office - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 x111, FAX 615/597-6803
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
frank ozereko on wed 30 apr 03
On 4/29/03 3:43 PM, "Working Potter" wrote:
> Did anyone in New England see or know about a fire that I heard a snippit on
> tv news that said a fire destroyed the sculpture foundry at U of MA? The
> cause was unknown from what little they said.Any hear of this up there?[my
> old stompig grounds up that way]
> Misty
>
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RE fire:
The University of Massachusetts' Department of Art's Foundry burnt last
Tuesday night. The 1860 wooden building housed welding activities and a
bronze foundry. No foul play is suspected. No one was injured. It is
suspected that an errant spark smoldered a good four hours after the last
class then burst into flame. It was a powerful fire and a couple of
explosions took place from the tanks. The building will be leveled shortly.
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