We were lucky to catch up with Hugh Patton recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hugh, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project iI have worked on might very be the current project iIam in the final months of creating/ finishing.

It is a body of work Titled Rough Notes, that is an on going project during my three year position as Artist in Residence at the historic site Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Al.

This project has allowed me to work on a large scale to create a series of sculptures, installations and drawings that rely heavily on the historic nature and presence of this industrial site, and connecting it to the contemporary use and function of the site. At its roots, this project has allowed me to connect and respond to the larger themes and issues surrounding labor, daily actions, healing trauma, and connecting with the presence and lingering residue of the dead. The compulsory actions of my art practice realies heavily on process, both in the materials I utilize, but a process of a somatic relationship with a space, an environment and a history.

Having the freedom and time to connect to a place, a community, and an art practice brings me so much fulfillment and it is something that I am driven towards. The time spend at Sloss Furnace, (specifically the Sloss Metal Arts Program) has helped me create and develop an art practice that is dedicated to place, community, and process.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am an interdisciplinary working artist, creating with my own art practice as well as for other artists and creative spaces for roughly ten years now.
I have spent many years working many different types of jobs, living in several different places throughout the U.S and throughout that time I have created my own pathway through making a life that allows me to make art and support myself. This has not been without sacrifice, without hardship but has allowed me to do the things that i care deeply about.
I attended art school about five years after finishing High school, which for me allowed me to gain a level of experiences in the workplace, and in life that I believe made my college education more fulfilling. I have followed opportunities and communities that have helped me learn,grow and create and connect to a broader community.
specifically the cast iron sculpture community.

I first cast iron in Pittsburgh,PA in 2016 at Carrie Furnaces during a sculpture conference, and since then have been attracted to and immersed in the cast iron arts community. I really learned the cast iron craft starting in 2018 at a place where nature meets art, Sculpture Trails Outdoor Museum in Solsberry IN.

I spent two summers working during the cast Iron workshops hosted in July where I worked amongst artist from all over the country as well as from other countries. I later became the artist in residence at Sculpture Trails and lived and worked there for two years.
This experience of immersed working and learning changed my life. I was blown away by the collaborative power of small group of driven individuals and how working in a crew as a team to create art works and creative endeavors is so fulfilling. This space was a space of unstratified learning and teaching. every artist had a different background, a different skill set, and the transference of knowledge, experience and passion is what pushed me further into the cast iron community.

The passion for learning and teaching in a non academic environments was and still is refreshing and illuminating for me. it opened my eyes to new possibilities, and practicalities in operating an art program outside of academia and is something i still am driven towards.

Working and collaborating with many different artist has ment more to me than any art pieces. The connections and relationships I have fostered, developed, and been a part of have supported me in my life (both professionally personally). I believe that artists(as well as everyone else) need support systems, networks and connections to navigate through the world. These relationships have helped me find work opportunities, places to stay and live, different ways in which an artist can make a living while making art, as well as meaningful friendships and familiar bonds.

The passion for working with cast iron, teaching and learning, and connecting to a larger community has led me to Birmingham, AL where i am currently one of the Artists in Residence at Sloss Metal Arts , which resident inside the historic site at Sloss Furnaces. I have been at Sloss since 2023 and my residency will end this summer 2026.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect to being an artist is the ability to be a type of conduit for ideas,actions and perspectives.
Creating something that not only comes from one’s imagination but also from the totality of information and experiences that an individual or collective is a vessel for. Often a project or a plan deviates from the original sketch, and to me, that is a good thing. The act of making an art piece, or any creative endeavor is less about exact replication of an idea to material/object, but how the process of making something can become greater than the original idea, it can become more elaborate, or more contextually layered, imbued, meaningful, or show me and the viewer something new.
On a personal level, I learn about not only the subject matter I am researching but about myself. The creative process can highlight new ideas or things from a collective or unconscious level , as well as my own behavioral methodologies or struggles.
I think the notion about being limited by our own imaginations plays a part here. I can only imagine so much, but through art making or a creative practice I am shown and can experience things that go beyond the limited scope of my conscious imagination.
Making art is a way to tap into something that is greater than what my mind can imagine, and instead what my mind can allow to pass through or pour out through my hands.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I think the main goal behind my art practice, and creative journey is really all about connection.

The way in which I make work is a way for me to connect to an environment, to a material, and to myself. Creating works that are site specific and site responsive rely on a deep desire to connect to the place I am in and the materials and histories that reside in them.

I have a deep somatic relationship with the materials I use and the space I create in. There is something about experiencing things with my body, and with a vigorous effort that helps me tap into a creative state. It allows me to understand the material both physically and contextual in a deeper way.

I am often compelled to make or create certain things, and that compulsory drive is fueling the practice of relating to a place, and to others. Creating something that is intended to be shared and to be experienced by others.

Contextually my work aims to connect the past to the present , the living to the dead, and how things are different and what remains the same.

Alongside the goals of the art works/pieces I make , the professional practice side of my artistic journey is also determined to connect with other artists,communities,new relationships,and possibilities.
This looks like working and helping other artists facilitate their goals and projects, working and sharing art with new communities both locally and abroad and creating spaces for new types of creative endeavors to exist.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: hugh.patton

Image Credits

Two of the Photos were taken by a proffesional photographer Mary Fehr
( The headshot of me and the photo with the forklift in it)

the rest of the photos do not need a credit ( I took them)