Check out this video for a front-row seat to a bronze casting, without the hair-singeing heat. Here, Vincent Hawkins and Michael Bennett, Fire Arts Center foundry instructors, walk student Alan Hruby through the process of casting his sculpture in bronze. Each student at the Fire Arts Center has the opportunity to receive personalized, hands-on education.

Intrigued?

Why not stop by and visit us to see what you can create at the Fire Arts Center, or check out our class list for more information.

Thanks again to Alan for the great new video with a fantastic soundtrack.

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Class Length Changes

We are now offering various class lengths to accommodate your schedule better. Now you can choose between 8 week and 16 week courses in forging, jewelry, foundry, furniture, and metal sculpture.

As always our class registration is rolling which means you can join at any time. The classes are small and the instructors help you work at your pace. So no matter when you start you will be walked step-by-step through the process with the personal attention you need. Join when you want and stay for as long as you need.

Click here to check out all of our classes.

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Welcome to the new Fire Arts Center of Chicago homepage. We did some redecorating for those of you visiting us online. Hope you like it. Much of what has been done is some simple shifting of the existing information. We did add a few simple new features though and there are more to come:

• New Classes: We have some new class offerings on the way for the upcoming season. The Fire Arts Center has begun to offer classes in basic armor forging which is sure to be a popular one. Be sure to sign up fast to reserve a space in it. We also plan to add some classes for kids in the very near future so be sure to watch our updates page for more information.
• Galleries: We are working to develop a more up-to-date gallery of our members' works and plan to add some new pictures to the various member's galleries. As the images will show, the range of works made at the Fire Arts Center of Chicago is broad: from metal furniture design to lost-wax bronze and armor forging to figure drawing. All of our members are offered a chance to have their works displayed on the Fire Arts website so consider signing up for membership to get your own gallery going.
• Updates: We have a new updates page for our site. It's powered by some new software which will help us keep you all up-to-date on our exciting news. You will be able to check this page for frequent updates on projects, equipment purchases or needs, upcoming events, changes or additions to the website, and more. It will act as the Fire Arts Center's weblog and will be updated regularly with helpful news and events.
• Maps: We added some links to give you a clear image of where we are located in Chicago. Both Google Maps and the CTA maps are linked under the Home>Location page so you can plan your visit to the studio soon. Stop by and see the types of equipment we have which includes bronze and iron furnaces, metal forges, welding equipment, and more. We would love to show you around.
• Links: This new page will give us the chance to highlight a few websites that the members have discovered and that we think would be helpful to artists working with metal fabrication, bronze or iron casting, figure sculpture or drawing, as well as a number of interesting Chicago art links. Check this section often for interesting additions as we discover them or to offer us ideas for sites you think should be added.
• Contact Us: While this page did exist prior to this version, we did add some new functionality to it by adding a form to fill out to contact us. Fill out the form and submit it and we will respond to give you more information about whichever topic you are interested in. So whether you want to forge iron, cast a sculpture bust in bronze, carve stone, or sculpt the figure in clay drop us a line.

Of course we still have many of the items from the previous website including the long list of classes offered by the Fire Arts Center of Chicago. Also the events link will continue to highlight upcoming open houses, bronze and iron pours, and other activities planned by the Fire Arts Center.

Thanks for visiting the new site for the Fire Arts Center of Chicago. Look around and send us any feedback you have for the site. We look forward to hearing from you and to seeing you at the studio.

Until then...