Artist floats cast iron canoe.

Wayne Potratz spends a lot of time in the wilderness when he is not busy teaching his metalcasting of sculpture classes at the Univ. of Minnesota. That's how the professor of 36 years got the idea for his latest sculpture--a canoe. But it's not your typical canoe.

"A lot of my sculpture work is based on my experience in the wilderness," he said. "I do a lot of canoeing in the Boundary Waters, and thought one day, 'Let's see if I can make an iron canoe.'"

The 13.5 x 4 x 5 ft. sculpture, dubbed the "Kashshahpiwi Memory," took Potratz about a year to complete. He started making the mold (a 10-piece sodium silicate bonded mold) and pattern (wood and plaster) himself in December 2003 and had the piece ready to show in the Fall of 2004. The mold was made at nearby Smith Foundry and took a week to finish.

Potratz said he has the ability to pour his own castings at the university's metalcasting facility, but this particular piece was a little large (800 lbs.) to be poured from the school's small-batch cupola. Thanks to the help of a former student who serves as liaison to artists at Smith Foundry, Potratz had a way to pour the molten metal for his gray iron canoe, two ductile iron paddles and several bronze turtles.

The canoe is now exhibited at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery in the Regis Center for Art at the Univ. of Minnesota. The canoe rests on its side forming a "canoe shelter" with the paddles resting up against it. The bronze turtles are mounted on magnets so they are able to be placed anywhere on the canoe's underside.

It is not too often you will come across an iron canoe--and with good reason. Many other materials are better suited toward floating a small boat down a body of water. This canoe was cast to be art, not a seaworthy boat. But that doesn't necessarily mean it can't be functional.

"According to mathematical calculation, it is supposed to float because it displaces more than 1,000 lbs. of water," Potratz said. "We just haven't been brave enough to give it a try."