The Prairie Center of the Arts is excited to announce the opening of
“Fierce: Women in Iron,” an exhibition of female identified artists working with cast iron. The
exhibition features the work of over thirty-five national and international artists as part of
Peoria’s month long Citywide Celebration of Women in the Arts. Fierce: Women in Iron is
co-curated by Kristen Tordella-Williams (Millsaps College, Jackson MS) and Jam Lovell (Black
Dog Metal Arts LLC, Peoria, IL). The exhibition opening is Friday, November 1, 2019 from 5:00
- 8:00 p.m. “Fierce: Women in Iron” is open to the public Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
or by appointment from November 1- November 30, 2019. An all-female iron pour will take
place November 2, 2019 at 12:00 p.m. at the Peoria Art Guild with a crew featuring several of
the artists participating in the exhibition.
Fierce: Women in Iron features artwork that incorporates iron, a historically industrial and tough material, created by women identified artists from across the nation. A dedicated community of artists cast iron outside of commercial or fine art foundries; these individuals tap into a 5,000 year old ritual. Since the 60s, the iron community has included women and men working together to build furnaces, break iron and coke (unrefined coal), make molds, and perform the dirty, physical labor to craft the sculptures and artworks out of iron, our beloved shared medium.
The iron community is a tight knit family of individuals who support and educate each other in spaces where everyone is welcome as long as they work hard and contribute. The cast iron
community embodies the optimism we need to unify and grow. There is a beautiful fluidity of
learning through making in iron and the iron community is a shining example of how we all can thrive together outside of a male-dominated culture. One hundred years ago, women would
never have been able to participate in an iron pour. Fierce: Women in Iron focuses on female
identified artists working with iron to celebrate our transition over the past one hundred years
from objectification, to taking control of our likenesses, to now being experts of our craft from top to bottom.