Sloss Cast Iron Conference

Can you believe it?! 🎉 10 years of the Harder Barter Market!

The very first one was held April 8, 2017 at the NCCCIAP at Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, AL.

Created by artists Kristen Tordella-Williams and Jenny Hillenbrand, the Harder Barter Market invites artists and participants to bring small, tradeable items to exchange with one another—anything from artwork, tools, raw materials, and swag to creative IOUs like cooking a meal or helping with yard work.

The purpose of this event is to bring artists of all backgrounds and career stages together equally to have a go at self-promotion, negotiation, valuing goods, networking, and taking chances! Most importantly we want to have fun! One folk’s patch is another folk’s treasure.

Here’s to a decade of creative barter and many more to come! 💫

Throwback to the 2023 NCCCIAP opening performance: Ore Line in Shed #1 with Araan Schmidt!

The fifth iteration of a series of site-specific performative installations by Araan Schmidt. Aspects of this work are rooted in ideas centered on markers of time, brief moments of description, a ritual of being and in a site-specific context connected to the histories of place. This series is part performance and ritual and part site-specific, ephemeral land art. Tracing these lines in the landscape with molten iron celebrates our primordial and ritualistic relationship to elemental substances as well celebrates and converses with the histories of the place.🔥

slossfurnaces

One of the legendary NCCCIAP traditions 🔥

The Sloss Alumni trebuchet has been hurling flaming fireballs into the night since its first launch in 2011 and it’s lit up every NCCCIAP ever since!

Built by Milsap Studios, Bodine Studios, and Mesh Collective

Photo from 2025 NCCCIAP

History highlight ⚒️🔥

Manfred Bredohl’s blacksmithing gate was created during the 1986 Birmingham Blacksmithing Festival, one of the first major art conferences held at Sloss Furnaces.

Artists gathered in Birmingham to share techniques, ideas, and a passion for ironwork, leaving behind a piece that still stand as part of Sloss’ living history.

Moments like this helped shape Sloss into an international hub for blacksmithing and metal arts.

Meet the NCCCIAP 2027 Steering Committee! ⚒️

We’re excited for what’s ahead and can’t wait to share more about the 2027 conference. Stay tuned! 🔥

Deadline coming in hot — applications are due this Friday! 🔥

Got fire in your boots? Run quick before the deadline and apply to join the NCCCIAP 2027 Steering Committee & Co-Chair Team!

We’re looking for passionate iron-casting community members ready to help shape the future of the National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art and Practices. If metal art fuels you, we want you on the team.

Open Areas:
• Workshops • Panels & Presentations • Exhibitions • Student Cupola • Guest Furnaces • Performances • Mold Masters • Volunteers

🔗 Link in bio.

Applications are due next Friday — December 12, 2025! ⏳

Apply to join the NCCCIAP 2027 Steering Committee & Co-Chair Team!

We’re looking for passionate members of the iron-casting community who are ready to help shape the future of the National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art and Practices. If you’re committed to creating metal art, casting iron, and contributing to this conference’s long legacy of communal education, we want to hear from you!

Open Areas:
• Workshops
• Panels & Presentations
• Exhibitions
• Student Cupola
• Guest Furnaces
• Performances
• Mold Masters
• Volunteers

🔗 Link in bio.

We’re feeling especially grateful for the community that makes NCCCIAP what it is! Thank you to everyone who makes this conference possible. ❤️‍🔥

Interested in helping shape the 2027 conference? Apply to join the NCCCIAP Steering Committee or Co-Chair team!

Areas include:
Workshops • Panels & Presentations • Exhibitions • Student Cupola • Guest Furnaces • Performances • Mold Masters • Volunteers

Applications are due December 12th, 2025.
Link in bio.

🔥 Apply for the NCCCIAP Steering Committee and Co-Chair! 🔥

Applications are being accepted for all available seats on the 2027 Steering Committee at the National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art and Practices. We invite applications and nominations from all interested members of the iron casting community. We are searching for people who are committed to creating metal art, casting iron, and participating in the history of this conference’s communal education.

Areas include:
* Workshops
* Panels & Presentations
* Exhibitions
* Student Cupola
* Guest Furnaces
* Performances
* Mold Masters
* Volunteers

Applications due December 12th, 2025
Link in Bio.

The performances never disappoint — and 2025 was no exception! Thanks to everyone who made this year’s conference one to remember!

Pictured: Midwest Pourformance + Waves of Change

Larry Hubert, Clayton Hubert, Mike Hubert, Kenny Jensen, Teah Tollufsen, Chris Meyer, Brighton McCormick, Cassi Rebman, Jordan Eaton, Eric Stephenson, Kelly Ludeking

A Midwest POURformance: Waves of Change brought together longtime Midwest iron casters who had inspired each other for over 20 years. They created a fiery display of molten iron cascading down a “forested hillside,” across a “valley,” and a “river” of magnesium. The performance reflected on the floods of change, political, and environmental, that continue to shape our world.

Huge thanks to all the guest furnaces from the 2025 NCCCIAP! 🔥

Pictured: Tilting Furnace No. 3
By Kurt Dyrhaug & Dr. Kelley Bradley (Lamar University)

This furnace is based on the classic cupolette design by Cliff Prokop and Chris Dashke in the mid-1980’s. The tilting concept is based on experiences pouring iron with Michal Staszczak in Wroclaw, Poland and Hans Molzberger in Hilmsen, Germany.

🔥Join the NCCCIAP Steering Committee!🔥

Are you interested in helping plan the next NCCCIAP ? We’re seeking individuals committed to making art, iron casting, preserving the history of casting conferences at Sloss Furnaces, and ensuring inclusivity, success, and longevity for Sloss & the NCCCIAP.

💥Applications for Steering Committee Members and Co-Chair are open.

🗓️Due December 12th, 2025

🔗 More info at http://nccciap.com/opencalls or follow the link in bio