Site Directors: Katie Hovencamp, Cristin Millett and Cydnei MallorySite Coordinators: Janice Lipzin (Vice President of Visual Arts) and Susan Drexinger (Vice President of Hospitality)

Conference Theme:“Foundry +, Investigations in Contemporary Art”As contemporary artists who create cast metal art, we are aware that this medium is one that has a deep rooted history in industry as well as permanence. Being cognizant of this history, contemporary artists have created innovative ways of casting iron as well as addressing the material after the cast is completed. They combine aspects of process, technology, material and concept to create visually compelling works of art.

This conference will explore aspects of collaboration in concert with the processes of metal casting. It will create a platform for experimentation and educational exchange that will involve collaboration between various art media, technology, research and performance. The results would create innovative and revolutionary works of art that challenge the material itself as well as aspects of contemporary art.

Glass Iron Symposium:Artsquest-Bethlehem Steel has glass working facilities on site at the Banana Factory. They have invited members of the community as well as

prominent artists to learn about aspects of glass working. This conference can be a great opportunity to collaborate with Lehigh Valley Glass artists to create ambitious glass and iron works on site. Similar to the 7th International Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art’s Iron Stone Symposium.

Education and Outreach:Universities and colleges have been very important to the development and continuation of this conference. Since the 8th ICCCIA will be coming to the United States, it is very important to nurture the relationships between the local communities where the conference is being held as well as the new generation of emerging foundry artists. Many students at universities in the states do not necessarily have foundry programs in their respective art departments, or have experience with working in iron. One component of the workshops/panels portion of the conference would be dedicated to first time iron casters. These participants would learn the entire process through a series of workshops at the conference so they can leave with a cast iron art piece. (This can be a component that can be offered for college credit for students)

The Conference Site: Bethlehem Steel- Artsquest http://www.artsquest.org/, http://www.bananafactory.org/

Bethlehem Steel Corporation was America's second-largest steel producer and largest shipbuilder. Bethlehem Steel and a subsidiary company, Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, were two of the most powerful symbols of American industrial manufacturing leadership. Their demise is often cited as one of the most prominent examples of the U.S. economy's shift away from industrial manufacturing, its failure to compete with cheap foreign labor, and management's penchant for short-term profits. After a decline in the American steel industry and other problems leading to the company's bankruptcy in 2001, the company was dissolved and the remaining assets sold to International Steel Group in 2003. In 2005, ISG merged with Mittal Steel, ending American ownership of the assets of Bethlehem Steel. Since it closed down it has been a historic landmark in the city of Bethlehem. In recent years the Southside of Bethlehem has gone through major revitalization. Members of the community used the opportunity to keep the historic site in tact

while bringing in elements the city was lacking in the past. The community collaborated with its rich history and now Bethlehem has become a cultural hub for visual and performing arts. Artsquest, Steel Stacks and the Banana Factory created a site that cultivates art related events and workshops that revive and celebrate these industrial related processes while enriching the art community. This site truly embodies the idea of “Foundry +, Investigations in Contemporary Art”

The International Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art is an active participant in practicing ambitious projects that utilize the process of casting iron. Because of the rich history Bethlehem has in foundry, Artsquest-Bethlehem Steel would be an excellent location to hold the 8th International Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art.

The site has the potential for large ambitious projects that can be created on site.

The large parking lot area on the upper right portion of the lower image can be utilized for multiple iron pours as well as the front lawn in front of the steel stacks.

They have two cinemas, a blast furnace room for conference meetings and a room that can accommodate 700 people. (this room also has a bar) They can serve breakfast, lunch and dinner on site since they have two cafes. Essentially everything can happen in one spot. 

On site temporary installations can also happen here (this is a piece by Steve Tobin) and they said they would work with the city of Bethlehem for permanent iron works to exist on the site.

Down the street (10 min walk) is the Banana Factory, where they have a lot of art programs and a glass hot shop. This is also the location of the Crayola Gallery.

Exhibition Sites in Bethlehem and Allentown, PA:

Crayola Gallery at the Banana Factory (Photo in picture below)

The Art Galleries at Lehigh University

The Payne Gallery at Moravian University

Cigar Factory Studios (Great for large installation art)- There are about 15 Individual Installation rooms and several large hallways to exhibit art.

Arts organizations in the area: (Lehigh Valley, Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Reading)Banana FactoryBaum School of ArtLehigh Valley Art Charter SchoolGoggleworksCrayola ACE- Art community EastonFuse Art InfrastructureTotts Gap Art InstitutePeters Valley School of Craft

Colleges nearby: (Starred Colleges have foundry facilities)

Lehigh University Lafayette CollegeMoravian College PSU ScrantonMuhlenburg College PSU Wilkes BarreKutztown University Cedar Crest CollegeLehigh County Community College PSU HazeltonBloomsburg University* Misericordia UniversityRamapo College Franklin and Marshall Albright College Lancaster College of Art and DesignPenn State University* College of New JerseyKeystone College * Monmouth University Marywood University* Montclair State UniversityUniversity of Scranton East Stroudsburg University Alfred University* University of Maryland*SUNY Binghamton * Northampton Community CollegeHarrisburg Area Community College* Misericordia UniversityTemple University* Rowan UniversityUniversity of the Arts Princeton UniversityMonmouth University William Patterson UniversitySUNY Cortland* Drew UniversityBaptist Bible College Centenary CollegeBucknell University Wilkes UniversityKings College

Potential Corporate sponsors. These are all in the Lehigh Valley near Bethlehem Steel.

Polytek WawaSmooth On SheetzCrayola MackYuengling Waste ManagementPraxair Deer ParkAir Products MackCity of Bethlehem PNCLehigh Valley Arts CouncilPennsylvania Council on the ArtsSandsWeyerbacher

Potential Sponsors outside of the Lehigh Valley:TillghmanAngelFireMillerLincoln ElectricLancaster Foundry Supply

Transportation:Bethlehem Steel is a 10 min drive from ABE-Lehigh Valley Airport1.5 hours from PHL- Philadelphia Airport1:15 from EWR- Newark Airport2 hours from JFKBus service is available via Transbridge Buses from JFK, ABE, and EWR to Sands Casino Bethlehem (next to the conference site)

Greyhound has service from PHL-Airport to Easton, PA (15 min drive to conference site)

Transbridge- http://www.transbridgelines.com/

Hotels:

Sands Casino (Walking distance of the conference site)

Comfort Suites University (Walking Distance of the conference site)

Hotel Bethlehem- 30 min walk to conference site.

Other Hotels Nearby:Hampton Inn

Holiday Inn ExpressHyatt Place BethlehemThe Sayre Mansion InnThe View Inn and SuitesExtended Stay America

*Bethlehem Steel will contact all of the hotels in the area to get discount rates for the conference.*

Camping:Dutch Springs Campground- 15 min. drive from the conference site.

College Dormitories:Local Colleges and Universities may allow conferences attendees to stay in their dormitories. Currently Lehigh University and Moravian College are being looked into as an option for the conference.

Points of Interest: (Lehigh Valley)

Bethlehem Steel Conference Site Tours:The Rise And Fall Of Bethlehem Steel-Walking TourSponsor: Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites and ArtsQuest

Tours Held Weekly Every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday At Steelstacks!

With a trained guide, learn how blast furnaces worked, why men needed brass checks to get in the gate every morning, and which buildings housed which operation on this on-site walking tour that gives visitors a glimpse into the day-to-day life of a steel worker.Location: Film (11:00am and 12:30pm) Bethlehem Visitor Center at Steelstacks; Tours (11:30am and 1:00pm) depart from Visitor Center at SteelStacks 711 E. First St. Bethlehem, PA 18015Parking and Directions$15.00 for adult (13+); $7.50 13 and older; Free for 6 & under ($2 Convenience fee per tour ticket additional for phone orders)Times:

• 11:00am screening of the movie "Bethlehem: The Christmas City", 11:30am tour departs

• 12:30pm screening of the movie "Bethlehem: The Christmas City", 1:00pm tour departs The Allentown Art Museum was established through a grassroots effort led by the teacher, painter, and critic Walter Emerson Baum (1886-1956). Founded and incorporated during the Great Depression (1934 and 1939, respectively), the Museum served the local community for twenty years in a city-owned Federal-style house, primarily exhibiting the works of area artists.

Allentown Art Museum http://www.allentownartmuseum.org/

In 1960 and 1961, a gift of 53 Renaissance and Baroque paintings and sculptures from Samuel H. Kress (a native of nearby Cherryville, Pennsylvania) brought the Museum to a new level. The Kress gift stimulated community visionaries and Museum friends to purchase and refurbish a building suitable to house the new collection. The Museum stands on that location today. In 1975, an expansion to the building was completed to enhance the Museum's programs and collecting plans. At the time, the Museum installed a room designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as part of its permanent collection.

The collection, still largely defined by European paintings in 1975, expanded with a large collection of textiles and another gift of works on paper. The 1978 acquisition of Gilbert Stuart's beguiling portrait of Ann Penn Allen, granddaughter of the founder of Allentown, set the benchmark for the qualitative standards of the collection. The Museum's goal, to develop an American collection parallel to the quality of the European collection, is one that the Museum is well on its way to achieving.In 2010-2011 the Museum underwent renovation to include approximately ten thousand more square feet of gallery, storage, and public space. Another twenty-five thousand square feet of existing facility was also refurbished.

Today, the Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley embraces the broadest possible audiences, offering tremendous variety and quality in our collections and exhibitions, educational and popular programs, and a busy calendar of public events. We serve more than one hundred thousand participants annually, of whom more than fourteen thousand are children in school programs.

The Museum's collection of more than seventeen thousand works of art offers our community the opportunity to experience nearly two thousand years of cultural heritage in an accessible and visitor-friendly environment.

Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites http://historicbethlehem.org/

The mission of Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites is to bring history to life by educating the public about Bethlehem’s rich heritage, preserving historic sites and collecting, preserving, and exhibiting historical and artistic objects to tell the stories of Bethlehem’s people.Historic Bethlehem Museums and Sites will establish itself as the premier historical organization in our region by presenting, powerfully and credibly, three centuries of Bethlehem’s unique history. Well maintained buildings and sites, collections that are accessible through exhibits and for research, and educational programs designed to engage diverse members of the community will engender a sense of place that connects one generation to another, showing the zeal and commitment of Bethlehem’s Moravian founders and the strength and foresight of our industrial community in forging our American nation.

Zoellner Art Center- http://zoellner.cas2.lehigh.edu/about-us

Zoellner Arts Center was built in 1996 and opened in 1997-98. The center is home to the Music Department, the Department of Theatre, the Art Galleries and the Guest Artist Series, all of which share the same professional Zoellner staff, venues and equipment. The center's mission is to create an environment where artists and students of the arts develop and learn; to educate, captivate and inspire performers and audiences by presenting a variety of vibrant, high-quality performing arts events, exhibits and scholastic programs; and to develop new audiences. The Guest Artist Series has presented a wide array of multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural performers, including Tony Bennet, Yo-Yo-Ma,  the New York Philharmonic, Itzhak Perlman, Garrison Keillor, Chick Corea, Bobby McFerrin, Lily Tomlin, Natalie Cole, Momix and David Parsons Dance intermissions. The building, designed by Philadelphia architects Dagit Saylor, houses three theatres:  a 1,000-seat proscenium theatre (Baker Hall), a 300-seat thrust theatre (Diamond Theatre), and a 125-seat black box theatre. It also houses a two-story art gallery, several rehearsal rooms, a recording studio, dance studio, scene shop, costume shop, dressing rooms and green room, practice rooms, classrooms, a music library, box office, faculty and staff offices, and three large lobbies suitable for receptions. A 345-car parking deck is attached to the center.

Mack Truck Historical Museum- http://www.macktruckshistoricalmuseum.org/

The Mack Trucks Historical Museum, in Lehigh Valley, Pa, is the repository of historical documents and artifacts from Mack’s long and storied history as the leading American truck manufacturer and world-renowned brand name.Among the antique vehicles in the Museum’s collection is one of the original sightseeing buses built by Jack and Augustus Mack in the first decade of the twentieth century. The gas-operated, open-air bus carried up to 26 tourists at a time around the streets and sights of Chicago in the summer and New Orleans in the winter for 25 years and more than a million miles of service, before returning to Mack as the anchor of its antique truck collection.

Crayola Factory- http://www.crayolaexperience.com/

Discover the magic of color at the world’s only Crayola Experience! More than 60,000 square feet of wonderful, whimsical adventures await your family at this one-of-a-kind attraction located in Easton, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of Crayola crayons, and a short distance from both New York City and Philadelphia.

The real-life extension of the iconic Crayola brand, the Crayola Experience was completely re-imagined in 2013. Now, bigger and bolder than ever before, the all new Crayola Experience features 21 attractions that allow kids to explore art and technology, express their creativity, and experience color in a whole new way.

In a single day, you and your child can do everything from building a custom marker to animating your creations on a huge digital projection. You will see how crayons are made in a live theatre show starring our animated crayon friends, Scarlet & Turk, and our resident Crayonologist - or you can personalize an authentic crayon label to create your own Crayola crayon.Check out our attractions tab for a complete list of all our unique experiences. 

The Crayola Experience entertains hundreds of thousands of guests each year and is open year-round. Check the calendar for special events and hours. The Crayola Experience hosts private groups, corporate meetings, birthday parties, and special events, and offers group discounts and annual passes. Plan your trip today.

Liberty Bell Museum- http://libertybellmuseum.org/

Liberty Bell Museum is home of:

• An exact replica copy of the Liberty Bell ⋯ that you can ring!• Wilmer Behler’s hand-painted mural telling the story of the hiding of the

bells• Allentown’s own “liberty bell,” cast in 1769• Revolutionary War and Colonial America exhibits• “Pip the Colonial Mouse”The Liberty Bell Museum is located in historic Zion’s Reformed United Church of Christ, Allentown, Pa, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The site of the first church in Allentown, it was used as a refuge during Indian raids, a revolutionary war hospital, a gathering place for the reading of the Declaration of Independence, and more. This rich history is celebrated at commemorative services every February, May, July and September.

Nearby Points of Interest:

Pocono Mountains (30 min drive)

New York City (1.5 Hours)

Philadelphia (1.5 Hours)

Grounds for Sculpture (1 hour) Hamilton, NJ http://www.groundsforsculpture.org/

ART Research Foundry- Lancaster, PA (1.5 Hours) http://www.thinksculpture.com/

Luna Parc- Near Peter’s Valley Delaware Water Gap http://www.lunaparc.com/

Storm King Art Center- http://www.stormking.org/ (2 Hours)

DIA Beacon http://www.diaart.org/sites/main/beacon (2 Hours)