Two events are open to the public this weekend during the fourth biennial Western Cast Iron Art Conference at the University of Wyoming’s Visual Arts Building, located on the corner of 22nd Street and Willett Drive.

An after-dark “performance pour” is scheduled from 6:30-10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, at the Visual Arts Building’s north parking lot. Attendees are urged to bring lawn chairs to watch the molten iron pyrotechnics. Performance pours involve kinetic sculpture with fire.

“Join us and be entertained by a group of artists using molten iron, allied materials and processes to create their art,” says UW Department of Art Associate Professor Ashley Hope Carlisle. “The performance pour has become a traditional event at the Western Cast Iron Art Conferences. Always a big hit with the audiences, this is an exciting and unusual series of acts that operate in the darkness of the western sky to enhance the color and action of the iron in motion.”

A “production pour” is scheduled from noon-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, also in the north parking lot. The public has the opportunity to buy and cast a scratchblock to take home at a cost of $5.

Artists from 20 states and China will pour their molds in cast iron during the “production pour.”

The Western Cast Iron Art Conference is a biennial event organized by the Western Cast Iron Art Alliance. The alliance was formed by some of the region’s foremost sculptors to promote, support and cast iron sculpture in the western United States.

Conferences combine fiery spectacle with educational workshops and talks, as well as production pours.

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