2010 Conference in Missoula, Montana

At the 2010 Western Cast Iron Art Conference in Missoula, participants prepared their molds in various workshops and attended panel discussions amidst continual parties and 2 major exhibitions of iron sculpture. On the culminating evening, Toby Flores’s students from Fort Hays State University wowed the crowd with a tightly choreographed performance involving Lance’s “dead man,” a wheeled skeleton contraption that whisked iron around the arena with literally blazing speed. This mechanical cart-persona was repeatedly beheaded, yet it continued to serve and astonish. Sculptors and students traveled thousands of miles to attend from all over the Western US, and by the end, all were exhausted and all went home inspired and excited.