Some of the best Utah sculptors worked at Wasatch Bronze back in the 1980s and 1990s. Sculptor Neil Hadlock owned the foundry for many years. I was once a foundry worker, hired to weld and grind bronze. I did this grueling work for 5 years 1980-1985. It helped pay for my college education. During that period I would regularly stay late and cast my own pieces at night. Some of my co-workers would do the same. Kraig Varner, Ray Jonas, Jim Avati, Ed Spears, Diane Stevenett, David P Campbell, Roger Hunt, and Nate Johansen are a few sculptors who were just as relentless as night owls like me. Eventually, two employees purchased the foundry and renamed it Metal Arts; Brett Wright and Kevin Magg have continued the business for nearly 4 decades since the Wasatch Bronze days. Over the years hundreds of sculptures have been produced there.
Foundry work is hard work, but I will forever be grateful for the experience and knowledge I got while grinding bronze. The foundry served as a gathering place for the artist to explore their creativity. I was able to produce art at a minimal cost. Metal Arts does my foundry work now while I do the sculpting. In those formative years, I developed and formed views about what constitutes exceptional art or poor art.