Cast Bronze Commemoration in the 21st Century

December 15th, 2011



These are sculpted 3d Bronze using photgraphic image










I really do know that the sculpted bronze castings on the left that we conceived of and just installed as part of an extensive for a Centennial celebration at the Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany GA are not really comparable in beauty to Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise below.



Michaelangelo named the masterpiece "The Gates of Paradise"















Yet they really are lovely and I show them here because they represent  a unique evolution in bronze castings.  All it takes to cast an image in bronze like ours for Phoebe is good photography and an understanding of how lights and darks within a photo will translate into the “highs” and “lows”  of a casting. Anyone’s photo can result in a three dimensional cast metal product.

An age-old tradition (remember the “Bronze Age“?), cast plaques have been a standard for commemoration and donor recognition literally for centuries. Yet just in my lifetime, hand-set type has replaced by photographic typographical reproduction which meant that logos and anyone’s typestyle preferences could be reproduced in bronze perfectly.  This photographic advancement in castings (bronze and aluminum) is called “Imagecast” by Matthews, is a natural “next step” for the industry.

We’ve been using Imagecast reproductions as a replacement for hand-sculpted castings for quite awhile whenever it’s appropriate for a client’s need. Certainly it is cheaper than having an artist sculpt for a casting in bronze. And at the same time, since the outcome is a realistic, almost exact, reproduction of an image, the impact is much more meaningful to most viewers and donors. It’s a treat to have the pleasure of seeing a cast image as a replica of the photographic image .

And here’s one more photo of the entire Gallery on the 2nd floor. The 1st floor here houses their completely re-purposed and renovated Distinguished Leadership Gallery which was completed at the same time. This newly recharged philanthropy center celebrates this community’s remarkable commitment to giving and is an absolutely beautiful conclusion to a very satisfying client relationship.



Distinguished Leadership and Centennial Galleries at Phoebe Putney Hospital













Written by Robin E. Williams



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