‘Luted Crucible’ Casting Lecture and Artist Demonstration with Piers Watson; Last Day to See Sacred Realm

January 25th, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan 25, 2017 (Santa Fe, NM)— The Museum of International Folk Art announces a lecture and artist’s demonstration of Luted Crucible casting with noted artist and author, Piers Watson. The event is offered in conjunction with the Sacred Realm: Blessings & Good Fortune Across Asia exhibition and celebrates its final day on March 19, 2017. 

At the end of Watson’s presentation, paper flowers made by the public as offerings for certain alters throughout the run of the Sacred Realm exhibition will be burned in the fire pit, concluding the exhibition.   What:   Luted Crucible artist’s demonstration of casting and lecture with Piers Watson

When:  Sunday, March 19, 2017, demonstration at 1pm, lecture at 3 pm

Where: Demonstration will be held on the Milner Plaza in front of the Museum of International Folk Art and the lecture will be in the  Museum of International Folk Art, on Museum Hill

Cost:    Demonstration is open to the public, and the lecture is free with museum admission

The Sacred Realm exhibition features amulets, votive offerings, and ritual objects imbued with other-worldly, divine qualities. Whether used in sacred dance, to pray or help individuals show gratitude or ask for specific favors, to interact with ancestors and deities, or to ward off evil and attract positivity, these objects are means to similar ends. As part of the exhibition, audiences are invited to engage in gallery activities such as making amulets and creating offerings, and are invited to attend the lecture and demonstration to learn about the Luted Crucible casting process—an ancient technique for making metal sculptures including dieties that are represented in Sacred Realm.

Luted Crucible casting is a pre-Industrial Age lost wax technique, found in the archeological record at the 10th century, that is still in use in parts of India and West Africa but is almost unknown in Europe and America. Due to its efficiency, low cost and low risk to health, it is considered a natural form of bronze-casting with great potential for small-scale casting, exploration and experimentation.

Guest artist Piers Watson learned the process of Luted Crucible casting as an apprentice of hereditary tribal casters of Bastar from Chhattisgarh, India. In 2015 he self-published, "The Luted Crucible, a Pre-Industrial Method of Metal Casting," the only book written by a practitioner of the craft and focused entirely on the subject. As an artist, he exhibits his work in Europe and the USA.