Twin Cities native attracted to Bronze Age by growing arts scene

This week’s Up-and Comer is Jordan Eaton, who works as a welder/fabricator at Bronze Age Art Casting.

Name: Jordan Eaton

Age: 28

Hometown: St. Paul

Jordan Eaton / Aaron C Packard Photography

What brought you to Sioux Falls?

I was offered a job at Bronze Age Art Casting. After further research, I realized there was a growing art community that I thought my art and life could grow with.

What keeps you in Sioux Falls?

Our community of friends and artists that are growing our city. Creating a place to grow a family and still grow my artist’s dreams.

Describe what you do for a job.

At Bronze Age, we take a clay sculpture — usually clay but it could be made of anything — take a silicone rubber mold of it in many pieces, pour a wax replica of the pieces, make a ceramic shell around the pieces, melt out the wax and pour bronze into the empty cavity in the ceramic shell molds, then break off the ceramic shell, weld the pieces together, grind down the welds, recreate texture and then patina the bronze. My main job is to assemble the bronze puzzle pieces and weld them together so that the final sculpture looks just like the clay sculpture that the artist brought in.

What’s your favorite thing about your job?

Solving puzzles, manipulating materials and having the chance to create art every day.

How did you get connected to your field? 

I earned a bachelor’s degree of fine arts at USD with an emphasis in sculpture. My professor, Chris Meyer, introduced us to a variety of materials, and I fell in love with casting metal. Together, we built the iron casting program at USD. We host two or more iron casting events each year using the cupola we built. It is at those and many others events I become connected to many artists within the casting community.

Describe the environment for an artist in Sioux Falls in three words.

Three words?!?!?! Awesome.

What more would you like to see the community do to strengthen the arts?

Create an open conversation about art, and introduce people to the endless possibilities and benefits of art. I love the support of our community, and we all need to participate in the multitude of experiential and thought-provoking shows we have in our city. Together, we can create a city that is a landmark and destination for everyone, including artists.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Continuing to making art and being happy.

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Twin Cities native attracted to Bronze Age by growing arts scene

Meet Jordan Eaton, who works as a welder/fabricator at Bronze Age Art Casting.

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