Synergy: Europe & Africa in America
That’s Roland Richardson on my left, owner of The Backyard Foundry and the man who taught me the alchemy of transforming base metal into fine art.
Roland’s journey into bronze founding began in 1973 with an eight-year sojourn in west Africa where his imagination was fired by artisans in Kumasi, Ghana who cast the red-hot metal by methods handed down over generations.
It’s a beautiful irony. Historically, Europe brought bronze casting to Africa. My parents came to America from Amsterdam, so in my case, you might say Africa gave it back to Europe. It’s a bit like the alloy itself: you take a soft metal - copper - and add one that’s even softer - say tin - and you get one that’s stronger than either: bronze.
