Creative of the Month: July/August

Tim Parks

Aug 31

3 min read

Ben Mitchell

Location: Idyllwild /Los Angeles

Creative Vocation: Fine Art Fabrication.

-How did you become interested in becoming a creative person?

I'm involved in the art world more in a technical capacity than a traditionally "creative" way. I'm interested in creative solutions to the fabrication challenges that confront artists in making their work.

I found my way to the technical side of Fine Art first through technical theater. Beginning in high school I worked light and sound for stage productions, and then in the set shop where I started learning carpentry, welding, and rigging. I worked summers in high school and college at a regional theater where I moved away from electrics and into the shop, where I learned from a great crew of patient, generous and experienced fabricators.

After getting a degree in Medieval History and quickly discovering that I did not want to teach, I took a job with an art fabrication company in Los Angeles. Other than a brief stint in the museum world, I have been working to help others make their art for the last 19 years.

-How would you describe your work?

I work for a small company that specializes in the fabrication of sculpture. Our customers are artists who, for one or more reasons (scale, technical complexity, material, etc.), cannot or choose not to execute their work in their own studios. We are hired to take their ideas as they present them– from the totally abstract to fully designed and help make them a physical reality. We work in a wide variety of materials, painted and metallic surface finishes, and at almost any scale.

In addition to fabricating the work itself we design and use all the unique tooling and fixturing required for each specific project. We also develop tools, fixtures and strategies for the safe packing, transportation and installation of the finished art works. In addition to the field work we do to support our own projects we will occasionally provide installation and transportation support for sculptures that have been made by others and that we have been hired to repair or refinish. To me, solving these problems is often as “creative” as making the work itself.

-Who, or even what, would you say is your main influence in an artistic sense?

I really appreciate that my work is entirely determined by the creative ideas of our customers, and by the specific aesthetic, material, and physical parameters that define their goals. No two projects are ever alike, so each challenge is a fresh and (hopefully) exciting chance to be “creative” in determining the best way to make the idea possible. I am always pursuing new processes, materials, and technologies that we can bring to bear on the task at hand.

-What inspires you and brings you the most satisfaction in doing your creative endeavors?

I love the wide variety of work that I do, from design development to welding, casting concrete to milling stone; the list goes on and on and keeps growing. Sometimes I write emails, sometimes I help figure out how to move a 30,000-pound sculpture through a narrow alley. Rarely a dull moment and always fulfilling to see our clients’ works take shape and eventually be seen out in the world.

These are a handful of photos of the work that he has helped to develop, fabricate, move and install.

As Long As The Sun Lasts by Alex Da Corte

Photo credit: Mark Rossi