One of the most rewarding parts of my career is having the opportunity to work with artists for many years. I get to see their process and development up close through a critical eye while I listen to the stories behind the work. Alfred Paredes is an unbelievably talented sculptor. Our friendship goes back 25 years to our BFA undergraduate program at the Laguna College of Art & Design.
The significance of this series of images, was that we did our first bronze casting together way back in the mid 1990’s. Feeling the heat from the 2000 degree crucible brought back some great memories. This is Alfred’s second monumental Bronze sculpture for the City of Baldwin Hills. The subject is Anita Baldwin, the Daughter of Lucky Baldwin, who’s family were prominent land owners and investors in southern California in the mid / late 1800’s. While I was able to attend the unveiling of Alfred’s first monumental Bronze, I didn’t get the chance to see the process. This time I wanted to make sure to get shots every step of the way. The first images I selected were from the final days of the clay sculpt in a warehouse in Newberry Park, CA… the Sideshow Collectables facility where Alfred also works as an artist. Once the sculpture is done, its shipped an hour south to American Fine Arts Foundry in Burbank where they cast the wax molds. This is also when they create the wax gating system that are the pathways the molten bronze is poured through to each section of the piece. I came into shoot the process on the day Alfred inspected the molds, and did some additional fine tuning to the wax sculpture. The wax is then encased in ceramic and burned out in the kiln. The Bronze is poured into the voids left where the wax was. Once they are broken out of the ceramic, they’re sandblasted and welded together. This will be the next session I’ll be documenting in a few weeks, and sparks will definitely be flying... Stay tuned.
It’s great to be able to spend this time with an old friend who also followed through on their passion and made a creative life for himself. Have a look at Alfred’s work at his website https://www.apsculpturestudio.com/