A Foundry That Fans the Flames of Artistic Freedom

Walking among the rows of brass creatures at his foundry, Stan Reich isn’t one to pass artistic judgment.

Unlike some art foundries, Image Casting Inc. is a place where artists’ wills can run free. In the foundry business, tempers can flare if artist-owners try to exert too much influence over artist-customers.

“We just make what the artist wants,” said Reich, who runs the largest art foundry in Ventura County. Reich has been casting metal for 15 years at Image, which he co-owns with James and Ian McTavish.

After discovering an interest in drawing and sculpture while studying photography, Reich got a job as a gofer for a large commercial foundry and got hooked on the business.

On a typical day, artists can be found putting the finishing touches on their sculptures while workers outside pour steel for boat propellers, hip implants and other widgets.

Spotted frogs made from bronze lie pondless in various stages of completion around the building, while miniature blue dolphins leap from green oceans. The metal menagerie includes a variety of usually water-faring creatures--workers in one room are touching up molds for bronze sea otters destined to become a coffee table.

Artist David Huenergardt is at the foundry working on a larger-than-life bronze sculpture of three horses; each is 16 feet long and 11 feet high. The half-million-dollar piece is one of the biggest that Image Casting has made.

Each horse is formed by welding together more than 27 pieces of bronze over a steel I-beam frame.

Art is often one of the early victims in hard economic times, but Image Casting has built a reliable stable of customers.

“Like anybody in the art industry knows, work is hit or miss,” Reich said. “Any time you’re exporting in this economy, it’s good news--especially when it’s art.”