NEW YORK, NY.- From Ai Weiwei's sunflower seeds at the Tate Modern to Auguste Rodin's Les Trois Ombres, it would be hard to overstate the importance of casting -- the 6,000 year old process of using a mold to give material form -- in not only the ancient and contemporary art worlds, but in the world itself.

Casting is all around us, all of the time (think: skyscrapers, toothbrushes, ice cube trays, jewelry, doorknobs, trophies, the list goes on...) and in CAST: Art & Objects Made Using Humanity's Most Transformational Process -- a 450-plus page, full-color, first-of-its-kind luxury coffee table book -- the full scope of the history, magic, and omnipresence of this process is revealed.

A must-read for artists, craftspeople, historians, designers, and anyone interested in the objects that populate our world, CAST includes:

• Exquisite, full-color photos of over 800 contemporary and historic works

• Writing on casting as it relates to Art History, Ceramics, Glass, Large Metal, Jewelry, and Alternative Materials

• Fascinating facts about casting's long and rich history, from ancient Rome to the Industrial Revolution

• Eye-opening information about casting's impact on our present-day world (from medicine to fine arts to environmental conservation efforts to weaponry -- and much, much more)

Jen Townsend and Renée Zettle-Sterling are metalsmiths, authors, and teachers with an insatiable passion for casting of all varieties.

Townsend has been making jewelry since she was 13 years old. She earned an MFA in Jewelry and Metalsmithing from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where she studied under Richard Mawdsley. For fifteen years, she has run a successful jewelry studio, focusing on bespoke pieces for clients. She has taught throughout the United States, including Millersville University, the metal studio at Dartmouth College, the Penland School of Crafts, and the Mendocino Art Center, among others. In addition, Jen's work can be seen in Metalsmith Magazine, Showcase: 500 Art Necklaces, and in Art Jewelry Today 2. Her work has been shown at The Orkney Museum in Scotland, Shanghai Design Week, and her work is in the permanent collection of the Imperial War Museum in London.

Zettle-Sterling always knew she wanted to be an artist. She was introduced to casting in high school at the prestigious Governor’s School for the Arts and Carnegie Mellon’s Pre-College Summer Art Program. She studied fibers and papermaking at Indiana University, where she cast using paper pulp, but her real passion for casting was ignited in graduate school. She earned an MFA in sculpture/installation and an MA and jewelry/metalsmithing at the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. In her studio practice, she casts and fabricates in a wide range of materials. She has exhibited and curated both nationally and internationally, including exhibitions in Tokyo, New York, and Art Prize in her local community of Grand Rapids. In service to her field, Renée served as President of the Society of North American Goldsmiths. She is also a tenured professor at Grand Valley State University where she has taught for seventeen years.