We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emmy Keenan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emmy below.
Emmy, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I had just switched my major to Art and was taking my intro to 3D Design class. My professor needed an extra set of hands for an aluminum pour that weekend, so he offered the opportunity up to the class. He didn’t have many takers so I told him if he couldn’t find anyone else, I’d be good to help out. Turns out he couldn’t find someone. It was a small pour, very few people showed up, but that was the start of my casting career. After that, I spent the next three years of college immersed in the process. In addition to my class work, my university had a close relationship with a nearby State Park with an Iron program and I volunteered once a month for their Iron Pours for three years. While I do think that switching my major earlier would have allowed me to become more proficient with my craft before graduating, I happy with how everything played out. I’ve meet some of the most amazing people through Iron Casting, even while going through COVID.
Emmy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a recent graduate of Kennesaw State University, and I am now a Resident Artist for SLOSS Metal Arts. I’ve always been drawn to the arts. I’ve pretty much done it all: singing, dancing, playing an instrument, the list goes on. While I never envisioned myself as an artist in school, it’s not that surprising this is where I ended up. I didn’t start pursuing art until after I had finished all of my general education classes in college. Then I threw myself into my art classes. During that time, I was able to find my preferred mediums, which are a combination of cast metal, ceramics, and fiber art. Through my art, I am able to experiment with ideas of femininity and masculinity through the use of various materials. Because the significance of my work is related to the materials and stereotypical associations of each art form, crochet being a feminine hobby and iron casting a masculine career, I love to listen to what images people see in my abstract forms. I definitely feel like I had been fortunate enough meet the right people at the right time to help my pursue passions. My go to professor was heavily involved in the Iron Community and was willing to let me pick his brain about anything and everything iron related. This was what allowed me to immerse myself in every part of the process. As a result, less than a year out of college, I was given the opportunity to be a Resident Artist for SLOSS Metal Arts at SLOSS Furnaces. I am looking forward to how this opportunity has and will allow me to experiment with my craft and continue finding myself as an artist.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I think you have to be resilient, or at least little unhinged, when your main art forms are cast metal and ceramics. You can do everything right, but once your work goes on to the pour floor or goes into the kiln, you just have to wait and see. However, I think the event of building my furnace illustrates my resilience best. Every two years, a National Cast Iron Conference is held in Birmingham, Alabama, at SLOSS Furnaces. It’s like a big family reunion for the Iron Community. During the conference, they hold a Student Cupola Competition, where undergraduate students go through the process of building their own furnaces and running them during the conference. I had the wild idea to enter into the competition, no set crew, not a clue about what goes into building a furnace, just a goal. This all took place during the first semester after the COVID shut down. I start by designing my furnace, its size, what it will look like, etc. From there, I was able to figure out how much metal and refractory I would need for the project. Now, furnaces are not cheap, so the next step was figuring out how I was going to afford everything. So, I wrote a grant proposal, and in less than 24 hours, my professor and I had put together a grant proposal to fund 90% of my furnace expenses. As a result, I was awarded an $800 undergraduate research grant, I was encouraged by my university to submit my proposal to several Undergraduate Research Conferences. The result was I presented during the 2021 National Conference of Undergraduate Research (NCUR).
After receiving the grant, I began budgeting for my materials. Around this time my roommates contracted COVID. I was lucky enough to not catch it, but I now had to commute to school from my parents’ house an hour away for a month. With classes from 8:30 AM- 3:00 PM and work 7:00 PM- 11:00 PM during the week and work 12:00 PM- 6:00 PM on the weekends this proofed to be problematic and quite stressful. Somehow, I got it all done while basically living out of my car. From there I had to start constructing the furnace and finding a crew. I was able to put together a crew fairly easy, and with more hands my goal seemed more attainable. Due to COVID, the conference was being held virtually. Unlike previous years, we had to finish the furnace, run it, and submit a video before the actual week of the conference. It was crunch. We spent our nights welding the shell together, and then we spent our spring break lining it with refractory and running it for the very first time. However, it wasn’t as simple as it sounds. There was a lot of making sure everything was lined up properly and fit well. We also had to produce a specific amount of sand molds, between those molds and our art pieces, we went through 3,000 lbs. of sand in just three weeks. It was an ordeal! As the team captain, I was stressed beyond belief, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. Those months are some of my favorite memories from my college experience. When it was all said and done, we were awarded with the Wolf Pack Award. The award was given to the crew who displays the best teamwork. Personally, as team captain, I couldn’t have been more content and wouldn’t have traded if for any of the other awards.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect for me is definitely the community engagement. A large portion of iron casting is working with others, unlike other mediums. When casting iron, you absolutely have to have a crew. At least one person on the furnace, and 4-5 others minimum on the pour floor. There is also an unspoken level of trust when you are pouring with someone. Everyone has to be in sync with each other and operate as a single unit. This need and dependency on others to keep you safe and bring your artwork to life is what makes the Iron Community so special. This makes each conference almost like family reunions. In addition to the Iron Community, a large portion of my casting experience has been educational demonstrations for the public and schools. I love giving people the opportunity to feel like an artist and invite them into my world. In instances like workshops or the Summer Youth Program at SLOSS, we get to teach people how to cast their own projects, weld, and blacksmith. As someone who would love to be a professor one day, I find this incredibly rewarding.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @creative_emagery
Image Credits
Personal Photo: Kelly Howington Individual Photo in Foundry: Mary Beck Pinkston