Aschenbrener Bronze

Aschenbrener Bronze From a small town in Northern Wisconsin emerges an artist with a vision to integrate his medium with the magnificence of the natural world.

There are many different kinds of bronze sculptures in the world. Bronze sculpture is also simply called a “bronze.” Some bronzes are mass-produced, some are limited runs, and others are one offs. The choice to create a reproducible bronze is one that David has yet to choose and all of his bronzes are one of a
kind, no replicas or doubles exist. The process involved in creating an Aschenbrener bro

nze is extremely labor intensive and takes hours upon hours to complete. The majority of bronze sculpture starts as a wax sculpture and then proceeds down the road of the casting process. David’s work adds a step and starts as ice, a frozen form. Unlike sculpting in a wax form from the beginning, David takes disassociate blocks of ice and sees the bigger picture of how they will fit together at the end of the bronze casting process. David wades out into the shallows lakes to chop out ice, climbs up on dams to harvest the ice, and pulls down icicles from houses. The ice dictates what the final sculpture is going to look like, and David plays off of this relationship. He never knows the final shape and color and look of a piece until the very end, when he seals the vibrant colors onto the bronze. After wading into the shallows and harvesting ice, he then carves the ice piece with different tools and techniques. Once he has a shape that is satisfying, he turns it into wax. This process is secret and David is the only person in the world who is turning ice into bronze. Once the ice is a wax form, David applies texture and patterns to give the wax interest and depth. Still at

this point, the wax forms are disassociated shapes, not fully together, but closer to being a finished product than they started as. At this stage, David sends the wax to the foundry where it will be turned into bronze. Up to this point, only about half of the work that it takes to produce an Aschenbrener bronze is finished. The foundry covers the wax form in an extremely hard ceramic shell to form the mold for the bronze to be poured into in place of the wax. After the bronze has dried and cooled inside the ceramic mold, the shell is smashed and hammered away to reveal raw bronze. David then takes the fronze forms to his studio where he “chases” the imperfections out of the sculptures. Once the imperfections are gone, David has to re-add some of the detail that was chased away. The next 20 hours or so our are spent applying certain chemicals and heat to the bronze to pull out certain colors in the accelerated patina process. Later when the last dot of color is put on the bronze, it sealed forever with a permanent wax coating able to stand up to any of the elements.

03/28/2026
Sunflower detail
05/11/2022

Sunflower detail

At Aschenbrener Bronze, we are committed to sharing the beauty of bronze art with our patrons. Experience the beauty of ...
05/02/2022

At Aschenbrener Bronze, we are committed to sharing the beauty of bronze art with our patrons. Experience the beauty of custom artwork today. https://bit.ly/3MknoUG

Our studio is located at W10181 Cherry Road, Gresham, WI 54128. We are available by appointment only. Give us a call at ...
04/27/2022

Our studio is located at W10181 Cherry Road, Gresham, WI 54128. We are available by appointment only. Give us a call at 715-851-5108, visit our website, or e-mail us at [email protected] to schedule an appointment today!

Have you used our services in the past? We would love to hear about your experience. Please consider leaving us a review...
04/22/2022

Have you used our services in the past? We would love to hear about your experience. Please consider leaving us a review.

The use of bronze in art dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. Here is some history of bronze art. https://bit.ly/36wBOkB
04/20/2022

The use of bronze in art dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. Here is some history of bronze art. https://bit.ly/36wBOkB

We would like to wish everyone a very Happy Easter!
04/17/2022

We would like to wish everyone a very Happy Easter!

In addition to our bronze pieces, we also have unique art pieces created out of refrigerator doors. Visit our website to...
04/15/2022

In addition to our bronze pieces, we also have unique art pieces created out of refrigerator doors. Visit our website to view some examples of this interesting art. https://bit.ly/33AJSzB

We invite you to view a brief video to take a look inside our process for creating our art pieces. https://bit.ly/3KcwJN...
04/13/2022

We invite you to view a brief video to take a look inside our process for creating our art pieces. https://bit.ly/3KcwJNQ

Did you know: It took approximately 28 large size bronze casts to create the infamous statue The Thinker.
04/11/2022

Did you know: It took approximately 28 large size bronze casts to create the infamous statue The Thinker.

"Art is a line around your thoughts." ― Gustav Klimt
04/08/2022

"Art is a line around your thoughts." ― Gustav Klimt

Address

W10181 Cherry Road
Gresham, WI
54128

Opening Hours

Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

(715) 851-5108

Website

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