Joe Noggle

A reflecting thing of beauty lives in an artist's mind. Then, nurtured by skilled hands, it receives the molten strength of the earth. The haunting attrac tion does not fade, but is enhanced and captured forever in bronze.

The fact that bronze reflects beauty has been recognized by mankind since the days of the early Asian, Egyptian and Roman empires. Archeologists have learned much of bygone civilizations from assorted bronze statuary. Resisting deteriora tion, the alloy of copper and tin has provided small pieces of culture frozen in time.

In the past decade bronze art has enjoyed a resurging popu larity. Throughout our country statues of every size and shape are enjoyed by many as they enhance buildings, museums and private homes.

The Old West with its rugged pioneers, graceful horses, colorful Indians and active cowboys seems to lend itself in particular to this forceful form of art. So perhaps it is fitting that Arizona, the copper state, has gained international fame as a bronze casting center.

The bronzes of some of the West's most prominent artists DeGrazia, Beeler, Waddell, Sloviaczek, Ruffin, Rigden and the late George Phippen are admired by many. However, few people realize that the statuary is also the work of an unsung artist who is content to be the sculptor's "third band." Without the skilled craftsmanship of the bronze caster, the original work could never be transformed into its final metalic form.

Thus artists from all parts of the world have beaten a path to Noggle Bronze Works in Prescott. They come seeking the aid of that talented third hand - Joe Noggle.

Founder of Arizona's first bronze works (first of its type west of the Mississippi River) in the late 1950's, Noggle has always felt he has a grave responsibility to the sculptor. "The process of converting an original statue into bronze is so long and complex that there is always the danger that the final result will not represent the creator's exact intent, or do justice to his skill. That's why I prefer to have the artist come to the foundry and make a final check of our work before we cast," says Noggle.

A native of Battle Creek, Mich., he made his first casting of someone else's statue while a freshman at the University of Michigan. He served as an industrial art instructor at Ann Arbor, Mich., prior to his move to Prescott in 1948. Working as a contractor, Noggle dabbled in metal art in his spare time but it was ten years before he did his first Arizona casting.

The history-making project began in the spring of 1958 when famed artist, the late George Phippen, and Joe Noggle were contacted by officials of the Arizona Game Protective Association and the U.S. National Forest Service. They pro posed the creation of a monument to Teddy Roosevelt who designated North Kaïbab as a national park during his term as President of the United States.

The bearded craftsman recalls, "The whole state got involved in that project. The copper companies gave the copper for the bronze, the smelters refined the ore and the utilities supplied the power." The result of the big effort was the monu ment to the late Theodore Roosevelt which now stands at Jacob Lake at the entrance to North Kaibab.

Phippen was so happy with the first casting of his work that he asked Noggle for a second, and more followed. News of Noggle's skill soon reached the ears of other Arizona artists who had previously been shipping their creations to foundries east of the Mississippi to have them cast. It was at the urging of these Arizona artists that Noggle, a mechanical engineer with a background in education and architecture, started his bronze works. There were less than a dozen such operations in the country at that time.

Since then he has done thousands of pieces for Southwest artists as well as casting for sculptors from places as distant as Florida, New York, Canada, Mexico and Peru.

Working in his Prescott studio, a reclaimed old livery stable complete with hitching rings and a loft, Noggle displays the strength of a blacksmith and the dexterity of a precise artist as he executes the five major steps used in making a bronze statue.

"It takes me about two months to complete the average job using the lost wax process," he says, adding that although most artists prefer clay, the original sculpture can be made of a variety of materials such as wood, glass, plaster or wax.

After the original piece is completed to the artist's satis faction, the complex procedure begins. A flexible mold is made over the original, providing a negative of the piece. Made of a fine synthetic rubber, the mold remains flexible for an indefi nite time. Then a positive wax duplicate of the original is made in this flexible mold. Noggle explains "This makes it possible to control the thickness of the wax and give us a disposable pattern that can be removed from the plaster casting mold later without disturbing the mold in the slightest."

The wax duplicate is then enclosed in the plaster mold. The plaster can be applied to the wax in several different ways -by spraying, throwing, brushing or pouring. Vacuum is sometimes used on small pieces to eliminate air bubbles from the surface of the wax pattern.

Next the plaster investment is placed in an oven and heated to approximately 1350 degrees F. This effectively eliminates any volatile material in the mold such as wax residue, moisture and dust. During this step the wax is lost by burning, thus the term "lost wax process." The negative plaster mold is maintained at the 1350 degree F. level for several hours. It is then allowed to cool to 400 or 500 degrees for use.

The fifth step concerns the actual casting. A sufficient amount of bronze is melted and brought to a pouring temperature which varies from 2000 to 2200 degrees F. According to Noggle, the exact temperature at pouring time is dependent on the thickness of the piece and its complexity.

After the metal has been poured into the mold, it is allowed to cool. Although much training has been necessary to complete the process to this point, it is the next part which requires great artistic skill. When the bronze has cooled, the positive statue is removed from the mold by breaking up the plaster. Then the delicate touch-up work begins.

Carefully, Noggle removes any burrs left on the bronze surface. All "gates" and "runners" (pieces used to direct flow of bronze to delicate parts of the pieces such as an outstretched arm or a lariat) are removed. The entire casting is "picked" and washed before being brushed gently with a wire brush or blasted clean by glass beads of sand.

Following the original sculpture so as not to add his own touch, Noggle carefully inserts any of the accent lines which may not have been included in the casting. A patina is then usually applied to the finished bronze.

Despite the fact that the majority of the process sounds mechanical, Noggle claims "No two jobs are exactly alike. Size differs in each case and every piece has its own problem areas. We cast things here ranging from small jewelry pieces to larger-than-life statues. Each mold must be vented differently or air pressure will build up below the molten metal and cause it to explode out of the mold or leave blow holes."

Noggle reveals that he often uses a "centrifugal method" to cast jewelry or other small pieces. This utilizes centrifugal force instead of gravity to make the molten metal flow into the mold.

His voice booms out over the fiery blasts of a welding torch to explain "Actually, there are two commonly used methods of casting statuary. The other one is the French sand method which produces a rough bronze that requires much surface work after casting. It does not use a disposable wax pattern as discarded in steps three and four of our method. This way of casting is still used in Europe to some extent, but is giving way to the use of Heliarc welding and assembly of smaller parts."

Although the time-consuming lost wax method of casting is one of the oldest crafts, having its roots in ancient China, Noggle feels there is always room for improvement. He says "Only by experimenting can we develop better materials, equipment and techniques. We are always looking for new technical methods to help us deal with problem areas. These can range from rigging a special hoist to move a large sculpture or developing intricate tube work so that a small wax replica has a built-in irrigation system through which the molten bronze can flow."

Some sculptors have Noggle cast five or ten bronzes of the original piece if they are assured by art galleries that it will sell well. Other artists prefer to have only one original bronze made. This factor greatly affects the value of a bronze, as does the size of the piece and the fame of its sculptor. Most bronzes produced by the lost wax process are hollow. The thinner the bronze shell is, the finer the craftsmanship is considered and the more valuable the piece becomes.

Thus, although raw bronze itself is fairly cheap, bronze sculpture is quite expensive. Prices range from $500 to $5,000 for small bronzes suitable for private collections. Large statues which enhance public buildings are often priced as high as the hundred thousand dollar bracket.

Despite this fact, most monuments and plaques which adorn institutions and parks throughout the United States are