On a beautiful, snow filled day Cordula Hansen stands beside a small homemade furnace, and waits. The post-graduate student from Ireland's Waterford Institute of Technology is working with visual arts students at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College to melt bronze using Bronze Age techniques.

Ms. Hansen applied to study at Grenfell College through the Ireland Newfoundland Partnership (INP), which funds projects that encourage cultural ties between Ireland and Newfoundland and Labrador. As part of her master of arts thesis, she is investigating the value of low-tech bronzing processes and their potential for career artists. Offering workshops on everything from building a bronze casting furnace to prehistoric mould making is part of her studies. Upon return to Ireland, Ms. Hansen will exhibit her work and hold similar workshops.

The furnace being tested by eager students is made of clay, sand and fibre, and took four people less than 20 minutes to make, Ms. Hansen explains. “Those are the main materials that were used during the Bronze Age.”

Eventually the exercise is deemed a success, and then some. “We managed to melt bronze for the first time, but we went a bit overboard,” Ms. Hansen said with a laugh. “The furnace turned out to be a bit to efficient. We melted the crucibles, the lids, the bronze and the furnace. We melted the whole lot.

“Oh well,” she said. “At least we know it works. Next time we'll make it a bit more of a moderate affair.”

Both Grenfell College and the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), located in Waterford, Ireland, have benefited from numerous projects since the partnership was established in 2001. Ms. Hansen spent the month of March at Grenfell and was able to share her experiences while also learning from local students.

“Grenfell is smaller than WIT but it has great facilities,” she pointed out. “It's more instructional here. At WIT from the third year onward people are pretty much on their own when it comes to their projects. I would like a bit more instruction at WIT, but I think in terms of research activity students benefit more when they are on their own. They have to motivate themselves which helps when they finish school.”

Living at Grenfell marked Ms. Hansen's first sojourn outside Europe and it's something she will encourage others to do. “Students might want to spend a few months here as part of their undergraduate program,” she says. “People need to get outside their own environment or they start taking things for granted. You don't know what you have until you see somewhere else.

“It's good for a city like Corner Brook to have a university campus,” she added. “This is a great outlet for artists. The Fine Arts Gallery is one of the few places that exhibit contemporary art. It's important to have that here.”