By Emily Funk

Students will have a chance to strike while the iron is hot during the annual Iron Pour, a week of events presented by UK’s Sculpture Program and the SCRAP Student Sculpture Club.

This year’s Iron Pour events began Monday, when visiting students from the University of Montana, Louisiana State University, the University of Louisville and Florida State University joined UK students for the mold-making workshop. The students have spent all week designing molds that will become iron sculptures on Saturday.

“Saturday we light the furnaces for the iron, and it is like lighting a grill,” said Marie Nartowicz, the president of the SSSC.

“All this week, guests have been making their own molds that can withstand iron poured at 3,000 degrees,” said Nartowicz, a senior art studio major with a focus on sculpture. “We pour the iron into the molds, and then it becomes cast art and there is an iron sculpture of the mold.”

Tonight students and professors will showcase their iron art from 6 to 9 p.m. in an invitational exhibition at the Barnhart Gallery. The Iron Pour events, which will continue on Saturday, try to get the community interested by selling food, t-shirts and scratch blocks.

“A scratch block is a small tile. We provide the guest with a nail or screw and they can scratch their own design into the tile,” Nartowicz said. “Then we pour iron into the design and they can keep that for $10.”

The event always draws a large crowd, said Gary Bibbs, a UK sculpture professor.

“Visitors are interested in participating because iron is very cheap. The molding and iron pouring also has a performance element because many people come together to make the sculpture,” Bibbs said. “I am expecting patrons, community members, parents, high school and college students, and kids.”

Tonight students and professors will showcase their iron art from 6 to 9 p.m. in an invitational exhibition at the Barnhart Gallery.

The 15th Annual Iron Pour will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3 at the Metal Arts Building on 672 S. Broadway.