History of sculpture

My sculpture Untitled Relief which was created by the artist Julius Schmidt features an iron sculpture baked with sand then cast in iron. When I originally saw this work I thought it was welded together, now I know it was cast from iron. I also found out this work had been created from used scrap metal, a favorite sculpture tecnique used by Schmidt often. The sculpture was actually carved into black sand before the iron was poured. This I would not have guessed by looking at the object. Knowing that the sculpture was created from discarded industrial material changes my feeling towards the object. The art is basically reborn material, created into a sculpture. The technical aspect of this sculpture is way different than most, generally sculptures made of metal are not pored but welded in steps. This sculpture only has two steps, which are creating the design in the sand and pouring the iron. This sculpture was created in 1961 by schmidt who taught and worked in the midwest, I think that schmidt might of taken inspiration from the midwest in creating this object. I think that this object has strong ties to this area, that is why it remains here in Nebraska. Schmidt often uses durable material in his sculpture allowing the intricate composition to be realized.

Iron which this sculpture is framed from has a historical background which develops the history of this object. "Pure iron is a metal but is rarely found in this form on the surface of the earth because it oxidizes readily in the presence of oxygen and moisture. In order to obtain metallic iron, oxygen must be removed from naturally occurring ores by chemical reduction mainly of the iron ore hematite (Fe2O3) by carbon at high temperature. The properties of iron can be modified by alloying it with various other metals" (wiki) This sculpture is made from oxidized iron, that is why it has its rusted look from the weathering and moisture it recives outside. Iron is generally a building material and is not often thought of as art. But Schmidt loves to work with this kind of material. Iron has been used as a building material quite often in the industrial revolution in the 20th century. If you look at this sculpture you will see that a the chemical process of rusting has occured in the sculpture. Iron actually changed the human way of life, in history there is a period of time called the iron era. This time changed life because of all the benifits in the strengh of the material and its durability.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Age