Noritake Art Deco Porcelains: Collection of Howard Kottler

Barbara Coddington

Museum of Art/Washington State University

<p>A quiet country town nestled at the foot of Washington's Blue Mountains with one high school and a population of just under 30,000 is the unlikely home of a world-class art organization, the Walla Walla Foundry. On one particular day, curious onlookers outside the unassuming building could have observed a crane lifting a women's torso onto legs to form a giant urethane foam model, several stories tall, now ready to be molded and cast. Once inside, they might have watched expert workers pour glowing molten metal into a monument-sized plaster mold, weld architectural elements, perform wax tooling, or remove a rubber mold from a huge plaster model. Established in 1980 and winner of the 1996 Governor's Arts Award, the Walla Walla Foundry has become a prominent fine arts bronze casting facility where skilled technicians craft artistic vision into actual artwork through digital scanning, machining, manipulation, assembly, casting, fabrication, and design. Renowned artists such as Robert Arneson, Terry Allen, Deborah Butterfield, Jim Dine, and Tom Otterness have utilized the firm's services to create, produce, and install finished art pieces worldwide. With full color photography and informative text, the Walla Walla Foundry celebrates the collaboration between artist and technician, explores the fascinating journey of metal sculpture from initial concept to final installation, and documents the history and achievements of this extraordinary eastern Washington enterprise.</p>

Extending the Artist's Hand: Contemporary Sculpture from the Walla Walla Foundry

Arts & Photography

Wells, Keith

History & Criticism

Prior to the 1960s, art objects were viewed as wholly distinct from non-art. But by mid-decade, that perspective was being challenged by artists such as Andy Warhol, whose Brillo Boxes looked exactly like the real ones; Roy Lichtenstein, whose paintings imitated comic book pages; and Carl Andre, whose floor sculptures were, in fact, slabs of industrial metal. Art and Context examines how these pieces, and others like them, relate to a society bombarded by advertising while also in the midst of a cultural revolution--as evidenced by the growing acceptance of civil rights, feminism, drug use, and sexual freedom--and offers a solid basis for understanding the art of the past half century.

Art and Context: The '50s and '60s

Bruce, Chris

Van Dyke, Nella

Wells, Keith A

History

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