"Smeltdown" Features Sculpture Program Collaboration

Michael Bonadio will be the featured artist for “Smeltdown,” a week of collaborative metal casting between the sculpture programs at Fairmont State University and West Virginia University.

From 3 to 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, Bonadio will be conducting metal casting demonstrations in Creative Arts Center (CAC) Room 2253 (sculpture studio metal shop) at WVU. He also will present a public lecture about his artwork that day from 5 to 6 p.m. in CAC Room 2251 (sculpture studio woodshop).

Beginning at noon Friday, April 5, Bonadio will conduct demos, judge a chili cook-off and assist in an iron pour at the Fairmont State University foundry located behind the Physical Plant on the Fairmont campus.

Admission to events on both days is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Jeremy Entwistle at jentwistle@fairmontstate.edu or visit www.mountainstatefoundries.com

Bonadio, a WVU alumnus and self-described “Southern artist with Northern routes,” will be a visiting artist in the WVU School of Art and Design from April 1-5 as part of the collaborative art metal casting event “Smeltdown.”

Bonadio, originally from Boston, received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from WVU in 2003 with a focus on sculpture. His current work explores a collective experience with playful tones and honoring puns. For the last 10 years, he has worked at various art museums in New England and the South, teaching art to children and adults while developing expertise in metal casting and museum operations. His formal training and passion for metal casting came from his roles as Resident Artist and Production Manager at Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark in Birmingham, Ala., from 2007- 2011. Bonadio is the current Foundry Director for Salem Art Works, a nonprofit art center and sculpture park located in rural upstate New York.

School of Fine ArtssculptureJeremy EntwistleArtMichael Bonadio