High Schoolers Make Waves In The Studio

by Kristin Arzt

This summer, our second year Fuego Youth Leaders were in for a surprise. They returned to the studios more comfortable working in their disciplines, collaborating with each other, and helping their students in the classroom, only to find out they had been commissioned to create a 6 by 12 foot sculpture for the corporate offices of Schnitzer Steel, a metal recycling facility just blocks from The Crucible.

While a few of the Fuego Leaders were a little nervous about creating such a large a piece of work, they took a trip to Schnitzer Steel, and were quickly inspired by some unique scrap metal, including a large aquamarine piece from an automobile long out of commission. The Fuego Leaders decided to create a multidisciplinary sculpture of a crashing wave that would show off their collective knowledge of welding, foundry, glass blowing, glass flameworking, jewelry, and metalsmithing.

Jonathan Saul, a sixteen-year-old Fuego Leader in Glass Blowing, designed and blew long glass water droplets to give dimension to the wave. When Jonathan first saw artists blowing glass at The Crucible, he says he never thought it was something he could learn. But the opportunities he was given at The Crucible allowed him to embrace the discipline. “You feel free when you come here, like you could do whatever and just let your mind be free.” For Jonathan, working with his peers on a project as large-scale as the Schnitzer project “was a great opportunity for me to show and display my work.”

Fuego Youth Leaders worked together to build this sculpture in our hot shop, foundry, jewelry, and welding studios. The sculpture’s aquatic influence pairs perfectly with our upcoming Fire & Water Fall Open House, which will raise awareness for The Ocean Cleanup Project, a nonprofit organization that is developing advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic.

The Schnitzer Steel sculpture will make its debut at our Fire & Water Fall Open House on Saturday, August 25, 2018! See below for progress shots of the Fuego Youth Leaders creating the sculpture in our studios.