Craftsmanship

Caitlin Riordan is a master printer who trained with Peter Pettengill at Wingate Studios located in Hinsdale, New Hampshire. Caitlin started off in printmaking with a B.F.A. from the Maine College of Art and went to work with Peter in the multiple plate aquatint etching studio. There she printed with many artists including Louise Bourgeois and Walton Ford. After Wingate, Caitlin went to work at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn where she currently is Head Printmaking Technician and Visiting Instructor in Print. Along with artists and educators Kelley Driscoll and Grayson Cox, she founded and runs PIE (or Pratt Institute Editions), a program which invited artists to campus to publish a print with the resources at the school and in collaboration with the students. Caitlin’s favorite tool is either her collection of glass telephone pole insulators or a Le Deuil etching press.

Chelsea Culpepper is an artist, fabricator and project manager at Workshop Art Fabrication foundry in Kingston, NY. Workshop was started by Andrew Pharmer and Vincent DiDonato in 2015 after they’d worked together for over 17 years at Polich Tallix foundry and provides an intimate and “boutique” experience; offering artists services including metal casting and fabrication, mold and pattern making, project development and management, patina and paint applications and conservation and restoration. Chelsea began working for Workshop shortly after they opened as a recent BFA graduate from University of Alabama, Birmingham and trained in the wax room - later becoming a trusted artist liaison for artist such as Frank Benson, Kiki Smith and Huma Bhabha. Her favorite tool is a broken chad.

Vanessa Hoheb has filled many roles in the fabrication world; from enlarger to mold maker, teacher to facilitator, artist representative and liaison, production and project manager- she is ultimately an artisan. She talks with me about growing up in her father, Bruce Hoheb’s enlarging studio and learning the ropes with some of the giants of the New York art world. After decades working closely with artists at Polich Tallix Foundry, Vanessa now works with blue chip artist to realize complex projects with Workshop Workshop Art Fabrication foundry in Kingston, NY. Her favorite tools is a steel sculpting spatula.

Nellie Davis and Kelsey Knight Mohr are both Textile Fabricators and printmakers specializing in silkscreen printing. With decades of combined experience in stitching, tufting, draping, embroidery, pattern making, puppetry and costume design, they have worked with many artists, including Jim Hodges, to realize large-scale textile artworks. We discuss the excitement and tensions created by the textile renaissance in contemporary art, the misconceptions surrounding the term “fiber artist,” the challenges of translating from two dimensions to three and the technical skill required to add movement to fabricating intrinsically sculptural objects.

Ivin Ballen is a co-founder of Lenscloud, a Brooklyn based 3D scanning technology business that specializes in custom solutions for high volume data capture using a custom built, portable unit. A former mold maker, Ivin now specialized is digital file generation for artist, companies and events and is currently working with MIT's Immersion Lab on a photogrammetry scanner for high-speed avatar creation. Ivin talks about the hardware and software that he and his two business partners developed, it’s possible role in the art world and how technology can help artists be more playful.

Amy Jacobs is an artist and extremely skilled paper maker who works with the nonprofit Dieu Donné as their Co-Director of Artistic Projects and Master Collaborator. She works with the institution to serve established and emerging artists through the collaborative creation of contemporary art using paper making. Amy talks about the vast potential of paper, from making a simple sheet to pulp painting to mold making and the rewards of collaborating with artists such as Ursula von Rydingsvard, Anne Hamilton, Jim Hodges, Erin Riley, and Carrie Moyer. Amy’s favorite tool is a good pair of sharp tweezers and the Fogg It nozzle.

This episode is an unedited recording of a talk series called Tradecraft done in partnership with the nonprofit Brooklyn Research. I interviewed the three founding members of Brooklyn Research; Alex Dodge, Ezer Longinus, and Johnny Lu, on starting a fabrication company that specializes in interactive systems, prototypes and technological experiences. We discuss the conservation concerns that come with digital art, working with corporate clients vs. fine art clients and how Brooklyn Research has transitioned into an nonprofit serving its community with membership space and programming.

Allyson Vieira is an artist, educator and author of the book “on the Rock” (Soberscove, 2019), an oral history project documenting the experiences of the marble carvers working on the restoration of the Acropolis in Athens. Allyson talks about the physical and political history of the site itself and walks us through the step-by-step process of repairing a broken block of marble. She details tool, technique and material continuity on the project and tracks how many of the skills span huge and complicated histories. Her favorite tool is her Dewalt angle grinder and from the book, the specificity of the marble carving chisels.

Jaime is an artist and fabricator who has worked on extensive sculptural projects with artists such as Banks Violet and Robert Gober. He reminisces about how he got into fabrication, being a young artist trying to make ends meet in pre-2008 New York art world and what he wishes he could go back tell himself. We discuss how technical skills can highlight class distinctions in MFA programs and the relationship labor has within the art world. We admit to making art for a chorus of voices in our heads and what it would mean to quit. Jaime’s favorite tool is a pre-drill counter sink drill bit.

Jason talks about learning the craft of spray coating technology and paint science from his early career as a painter at Jeff Koons’s Studio. Now the owner of the renowned shop Alchemy Paint Works, he discusses the language choices used with clients, the process of filing a patent for a specific coating he invented, the gap between an industrial process and a contemporary art application and being flown around the world. His favorite tools is a German engineered spray gun called a Sata,

Matt Dilling, the owner of Lite Brite Neon Studios, talks about the history of neon and how it’s entered the contemporary art visual language. He describes working with both commercial and art clients and how to tackle and learn from positive problem solving with such an exacting material.

Matt discusses being the Estate Manager for the artist/photographer Sarah Charlesworth which involves overseeing the continued printing of unfulfilled editions, the replacement of damaged artworks and the translation from defunct and non-archival printing processes into more stable, digital techniques and materials. His favorite tools are the slide carousel and the Nikon FMZ camera.

Anders talks about being a fabricator that specializes in glassblowing and how a handful of legal cases involving intellectual property have raised interesting question within his glass and art communities. His favorite tool is the New York Times.

Matt talks about the tension between being both an artist and a fabricator in the contemporary art world and the different dynamic when working for a fabrication company vs. working closely with only one artist. His favorite tool is an angle grinder.