An artist could have been forgiven for thinking that a highly-regarded gastropub was telling porkies when it made a request for an unusual bronze cast.
But the Unruly Pig at Bromeswell, recognised as one of the top gastropubs in the country by brewer Estrella Damm, really did want Alice Andrea Ewing to create a second pig’s bust- this time of a bottom to accompany a pig’s head she crafted when the pub opened in 2015.
Thankfully, she didn't make a pig's ear of the artwork, which is now proudly on display at the popular pub.
She has run a studio and foundry with fellow artist Freddy Morris in Brandeston since 2016.
She said: “When the Unruly Pig got back in touch all these years later looking for a ‘pig’s bottom’, I couldn’t help myself but say yes.
“When we cast the pig’s head back in 2015, it was right at the beginning of our working with bronze.
“I was training with Freddy at Butley Mills, firing up our little furnace after finishing work for the day for the sculptor Laurence Edwards.
“Feels so strange how much time has passed since then - and I loved the idea of matching a bottom to the pig’s head after all this time - and what a strange marker of time it is.”
When the original pig’s head was cast, the two artists were still experimenting with their own home-fashioned foundry equipment built out of an old dustbin and an abandoned supermarket trolley.
In the years since, they have established their own studio and foundry and have continued to cast their own work, with Alice having recently collaborated with the international fashion brand Loewe on a sculpture series and jewellery collection.
The pair also provide Lost Wax casting services for other artists through their foundry and have run an educational programme, ‘The Portable Foundry Project’, since 2015 providing bronze casting and sculpture workshops for schools and community groups.
They will be working with students from Dale Hall Primary and Stoke High School on two sculpture projects in Ipswich later this year.
The finished pig’s bottom is now hanging in The Unruly Pig and can be seen alongside the cast of the original pig’s head.
The pair’s studio-foundry website can be found at www.rigglestreet.co.uk and more information on their work and upcoming projects can be found via their personal websites and instagram.
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