I believe that art and education are uniquely associated and recognize the engagement of visual and verbal communication as integral to the art making process entailing the social practice of sculpture. Sculpture and in particular foundry practice thrill me. Foundry (fire and molten metal) reaches all audiences in its primal and self-explanatory way. Iron casting is a shared instinctive practice and a blooming “sub-culture” that has generated the founding of the Western Cast Iron Art Alliance, an eclectic group of iron artists from across the western regions of the United States. The WCIAA, of which I am a founding member, hosted iron conferences in Denver, Colorado; Missoula, Montana; Hays, Kansas, Laramie, Wyoming and the fifth biennial conference scheduled in November 2016 takes place in Scottsdale, Arizona. www.wciaa.org