In 2009 the Foundry Tree started at the National Conference on Cast Iron Art. It has been 6 years since I last attended, but Foundry Tree was back at Sloss Furnaces for the 2025 NCCCIAP. My kids and I enjoyed their first time the National Conference! Many thanks to Page Burch for the invitation and facilitating our attendance with Virginia Elliott. We used the ground floor space this year. It worked really well, allowing us to work and connect to the 180+ people we photographed. Many thanks to all of the Steering Committee’s hard work and support.
I was also on a panel with Wayne Potratz, Margee Levine and Laura Mullen. What a privilege to be in such great company speaking about various documentation styles, preservation of Iron casting history and interconnections in Iron-casting communities.
My kids Ima and Ari helped with the Foundry Tree setup, data entries and packing up. They have their own blogs their nature observations on our journey. Ima’s post is up on her blog Birdminded, and Ari’s Love of Bugs posts are forthcoming.
Many thanks to EVERYONE. My kids and I had an amazing adventure driving to (Louisiana then) Birmingham, AL from Chicago and back again.
Image courtesy of Andy Denton. Gabe Akagawa photographing Sky Faro.
Waiting line for photos. Thanks for your patience everyone!! Hopefully a good time to relax in the shade.
Durant Thompson, Donnie Keen, and Seth Thibodaux
Oscar Salcedo Castañeda, Devon White, Andy Denton and Laura Mullen discussing documentation technologies.
Before my panel started. Wayne Potratz and Laura Mullen
Virginia Elliott and Ian Skinner
Image of Gabe Akagawa and Kaleigh Suddarth courtesy of Kaleigh Suddarth. Kaleigh writes, “For me the ‘Selfie’ is a moment in time, a memory. I like to look back and remember the moment. Also, people don’t always have time to stop for a proper photo. Especially at big events when everyone is constantly running around. This way includes everyone, and reminds me of the days I used to carry a Kodak pocket camera around everywhere.”
See you in 2027!
Ari taking Ima‘s pic. (Foundry Tree training the next generation.)