Artist Neil Hadlock Owner of Wasatch Bronze Works 1984

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.