If you’re grocery shopping in the Magic City, there’s a chance you’ll catch Sloss Metal Arts staff members Virginia Elliott and Ian Skinner in the produce aisle, seeking a perfectly formed strawberry or mushroom to transform into food sculpture. International markets are another great scouting spot, and Mr. Chen’s is a favorite, especially after staff lunches, but the hunt continues even during personal grocery sprees. “We’re always thinking about what would be cool,” Skinner says.
Foundry Manager since 2023, Skinner visited Sloss Furnaces for the first time in 2010 prior to obtaining his Master’s in Sculpture from the University of Mississippi. He “fell in love with the space” and drove back to Birmingham to help during his holiday breaks and summers, then applied for full-time work four years ago.
Metal Arts Director since 2024, Elliott stumbled upon Sloss by accident when her colleagues at the University of Cincinnati were heading to Birmingham for a conference, and she decided to tag along. Later, she had the opportunity to be a visiting artist and became temporary operations manager after a transition in leadership. “I had administrative experience as well as sculpting experience, and I ended up staying,” she says.
Once discovered at their market source, fruits and veggies are transported quickly so that the casting process can take place before the produce starts to spoil. “We have to set the item in the flask, and, within the day, we have to flip it, or it starts going bad,” Skinner notes.
Fruits and vegetables aren’t cast as often as other items–around once a quarter, according to Elliott–because they are tedious to make, and the Metal Arts program has just four staff artists. Yet they’ve been around since the beginning and maintain a loyal fan base. Hits over the years have included bananas, pomegranates, strawberries, beans in their pods, lemons, enoki mushrooms, and cabbage and squash set inside bowls for a distinctive shape.
Some produce is difficult to get perfect, Elliott admits, adding that the peanut is especially testy. “They are small and irregular and hard on your hands because you have to pinch them,” she explains. “They’re labor intensive.”
And with other fruits and vegetables, the results are too underwhelming to keep them up.
“Some produce doesn’t read well; pears are just a blob,” Skinner laughs. “We once did an apple with a bite eaten out of it–but if it’s not eaten, it doesn’t work.”
Food sculpture enthusiasts can check Sloss’ gift shop for occasional stock, but events are an even better bet. There’s a holiday pour the first Saturday of December, a pour around Halloween, as well as a booth at the Appalachian Festival at Oak Mountain State Park. And for collectors on the road, the Sloss Metal Arts team has a booth at the Kentuck Festival of the Arts every October.
“People will come up to us at events and to ask us about what vegetables we have,” Skinner says. “It’s awesome.”