May 10th 2007

Fellow artists, welcome to Ironpour.com.

As you all are aware, the contemporary iron casting movement is growing at an exponential rate. The community that has been developing around the use of cast iron as a sculptural medium is comprised of hundreds, if not thousands of unique individuals from all over the world who share a common love for this dynamic process. As newer generations of sculptors continue to disseminate the knowledge they have learned, the ring of fire spreads.

The sculptural tool that is iron casting has fostered a camaraderie amongst us that is a rarity in today's society. Recognizing the significance of this phenomenon, I have created Ironpour.com to serve as a virtual community for us all. Aside from a few specialized groups, and a smattering if personal web pages, Myspace sites, You Tube posts, and Photo bucket accounts, I have been unable to find any definitive online resource for the iron casting community. Ironpour.com will hopefully be able to fill that void and give us a place to share our insights, technical knowledge, and artistic endeavors with one another.

Website Features:

The site is nothing fancy so far, but the important elements of communication are here.

I have set up a forum on which people can announce pour dates, shows, opportunities, talk about technical issues, sculptural projects, and just generally keep in touch with each other. The forum includes a calendar which links events to posts in the forum.

The gallery section will provide a venue for sharing all those great pour photos and other sculpture related visuals. Registered users will be able to upload their own photos directly to the gallery.

I will add more general content as I have time to create it. If anyone has the skills and desire to work on fancifying the site, please contact me. Please post your ideas for site content on the forum.

This is YOUR website, not mine, so the success of this concept hinges on your participation. I know we can have a thriving virtual community and work together much like we do while pouring hot metal.

-------------Michael Cottrell