WEST AFRICA

West Africa is magical and frustrating and confusing and rewarding. I am in love with it.  I have been returning to Africa for all of my adult life to do work with artists and to live for 6 months to a year at a time. I work at a bronze foundry in Burkina Faso. While working at the foundry, I have learned how to build a traditional bronze melting foundery, which I have built and use here in the US as well. For many pictures and my daily experiences while on that trip, please look at my blog- 

THE FOUNDRY:

ABOVE:
This is the foundry that I work at in Burkina Faso. Isa (right) and Sada (left), are putting patina on some finished pieces. They are master craftsmen, and their entire family has been doing bronze for centuries.

Melting the bronze

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The bronze that gets melted down is mostly old pipes. It reaches temperature through air being pushed through charcoal. There is no gas and no electricity involved, just lots of people taking turns pushing a bicycle wheel in a circle, getting air to go through the bellows and heat up the bronze.

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COLLABORATIONS WITH OTHER ARTISTS:

Vivien Tapsoba (right) is a Burkinabe painter who's work brings to life the city of Ouagadougoe, where he lives.
Abu Sidebe (Work on the left) is a Burkabe sculptor who's enchanting mixed media sculpture blows my mind.
After meeting many artist in Ouagadougou, I realized how incredible these two men are, and how incredible it could be if we worked together. This is an ongoing project. We do collaborative projects like a game of exquisite corpse. I start them with a bronze figure, Abu adds a sculpture of wood and found objects, and Vivien paints them.  
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The Pieces, bronze and mixed media, 29"/21"/3"
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Remember, bronze and mixed media, 25"/15"/3" FOR SALE 400.00