Laran Bronze is a fine art

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located within the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area, it is the only city in Delaware County and had a population of 32,605 as of the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1682, Chester i ...

. Founded in 1984 by Larry and Randy Welker in facilities built for the city's once-booming

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befo ...

industry, the foundry has cast many monumental and significant sculptures, including many of the bronze components of the

World War II Memorial The World War II Memorial is a national memorial in the United States dedicated to Americans who served in the armed forces and as civilians during World War II. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The memorial consists ...

in Washington, D.C. In 1985 or 1986, the foundry cast replicas of the hands of painter

Andrew Wyeth Andrew Newell Wyeth ( ; July 12, 1917 – January 16, 2009) was an American visual artist, primarily a realist painter, working predominantly in a regionalist style. He was one of the best-known U.S. artists of the middle 20th century. In his ...

; in 2019, one of these replicas sold at auction, along with a Wyeth painting, for $490,230. The components cast at Laran for the WWII Memorial include four 18-foot columns, eight eagles with 10- to 12-foot wingspans, two 10-foot wreaths, and 24 plaques. Other works cast at Laran Bronze include: *''Holodomor Memorial'', Washington, D.C. *''Keys to Community'', Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *''Gregor Mendel'', Villanova University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *''The U.S. Air Force Honor Guard Memorial'', Arlington, Virginia *''Brigadier-General

John Gibbon John Gibbon (April 20, 1827 – February 6, 1896) was a career United States Army officer who fought in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Early life Gibbon was born in the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the four ...

statue,''

Gettysburg battlefield The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg within and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the site of the first shot ...

, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania * ''Sculptures on the Square'', Charlotte, North Carolina * ''Gem of the Lakes,'' 311 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois

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{{reflist Foundries in the United States