In early 2025, American Fine Arts foundry began the complex process of fabricating the 147 Traces that will be the focal point of STORIES: The AIDS Monument.

AFA, which is located in Burbank about 12 miles from West Hollywood, invited members of FAM’s Board to watch the process of forging bronze into the first of The Monument’s Traces on February 18.  Also in attendance was Daniel Tobin, the artist who designed The Monument and continues to work with FAM and the City of West Hollywood as the project moves toward completion in Fall 2025.

On March 28, Board members returned to the foundry with West Hollywood Mayor Chelsea Byers and Burbank Mayor Nikki Perez to watch the fabrication of additional Traces and take a tour of the facility, which is equipped for the ancient process of lost-wax casting (also known as investment casing) to create objects of art and other bronze sculpture.

AFA owner Brett Barney demonstrated how the 14-foot, 200-pound bronze Traces are being fabricated using both Old World methods and new technology.

“In traditional lost wax casting, we’d be actually pulling a wax out of a master mold,” Barney explained.  “But because the geometry on these (Traces) is so precise, the only way we can achieve that is to 3D print each wax and then put it through the rest of the process.”

Watch this video to see the fabrication process for the Traces, from creating the wax molds and pouring in the molten bronze, to welding and oxidizing the individual cast bronze pieces and anchoring each Trace.  In this video. the artist Daniel Tobin also talks about the significance of the Traces and his thoughts behind his design of The Monument.