In prior installments of the vozarrón column, we consulted with the Powerhouse Arts Directors of Collaborative Production Operations; Wood, Metal, and Digital Fabrication; and the Print Shop to learn that fabrication can be defined as the act of gathering a community of skilled makers to realize a vision and as an intermediary role that translates visual and conceptual language to materiality.
vozarrón continues to delve into the topic of fabrication with this third installment honing in on a conversation with our Director of Ceramic, Biata Roytburd who shares her definition of “fabrication,” her background and expertise as an independent artist, how intuition factors into fabrication, and her thoughts on crediting fabricators.
“Fabrication is the act of making,” Biata offers. When you consider that she is known for her alluring and exceptionally well-crafted figurative sculptures, it makes sense that she would offer such a straight-forward definition. Her studio practice is informed by her undergraduate studies in illustration and early work as a tech at a professional ceramic studio. There, she learned how to mix glazes and load kilns — all before she knew how to work with clay. Early on she learned that the crux of fabrication lies in the meticulous, detail-oriented, “nitty gritty”. When she speaks to clients or students with a project in mind, she posits that at least 50% of the work is planning and preparation, 30% is hands-on work, and 20% is clean-up.
Her first job out of college was at a shop that created prototype artwork made of resin, foam, and plaster. As a young maker, she realized that much of the arts economy is actually driven by artists hiring others to support or to outright create their work. She was exposed to the reality that artists engaging in fabrication would therefore require significant means of their own — or otherwise be represented by a gallery or backed by wealthy patrons — in order to afford these services.
Biata’s introduction to fabrication was assisting in the creation of plates for the Showtime television network, intended to be place-settings in a townhouse where the dining room was themed after the show Dexter. The challenge was to make beautiful, functional plates with grotesque, fleshy, and bloody textures.
As someone who has had her own work fabricated in the intervening years, Biata often considers how artists make the jump and get to the point of hiring others to undertake the work. When does that make sense for an artist’s career? Accessibility to appropriate avenues for funding will no doubt influence this shift.
What is the in-take process like?
Every project is different and client-responsive. When an artist has an idea but is unsure of how to translate it, Biata encourages them to share visual references to solidify the concept. Although challenging, this approach gives her the freedom to explore options and techniques — to essentially “puzzle” together the optimal process to achieve the desired output.
Projects often become overly complicated or stunted when an artist can’t adequately express their vision through visual references or when there exists a disconnect in the understanding of what is actually possible within the given medium. Biata is attentive to this and is always improving procedures for future projects. She accepts the thrill of material research. If someone wants to recreate a vase from 18th-century-China for instance, she thoroughly embraces the challenge of recreating that historical process itself, by researching materials, learning historical techniques, and deciphering formulas.
On a cautionary note, Biata expresses that it helps when the client is familiar with clay and understands variables that are out of the fabricator’s hands. The firing process itself can be experimental, yielding successful results on the first try, or never achieving the optimal temperature and causing the firing process to go awry altogether.
Do you think there is an intuition behind identifying the core of an artist’s idea and bringing it to life?
Biata likes to believe anything is possible, however experience and expertise inform a basic intuition as to whether something will or won’t work. This insight is rooted in the ability to determine an artist’s vision even if it is only derived from a scribbled sketch or a rudimentary concept. As a notorious scribbler herself, she’s learned that scribbles are the first iterations of a work that underlie the essence of what the artist is hoping to achieve. Those preliminary marks help fabricators like Biata configure volume, essentially the way a work lives and takes up space.
How has the Ceramic Shop responded to COVID-19? What changed?
According to Biata, not much has changed except perhaps the frequency with which outside visitors and in-person consultations were granted. However, supply issues have definitely been a challenge that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. While business may have slowed in this way, clients have been understanding. Because Biata rarely works elbow to elbow with her artist-clients, she has not felt a meaningful constriction otherwise. In this way, fabrication work can also be an isolating practice.
How do you feel about being credited as a fabricator? How, if at all, do you see this industry changing?
As Biata expressed, it is credit enough to be employed by an organization like at Powerhouse as the Director of Ceramics. That said, her collaborator Eleni Kontos who works closely with Biata in the Ceramic Shop appreciates being credited outright — particularly because she is herself an artist who makes ceramic wares. Biata generally believes in deferring to the artist themself, and negotiating appropriate crediting through dialogue and mutual understanding. It is important to respect privacy and creative authorship.
Once operations move into the future Powerhouse Arts facility, Biata looks forward to working more closely with artists and fabricators, exchanging expertise and skills in person in support of artists’ visions. Biata adds that it will be “exciting to work on a larger scale and potentially offer interactive outdoor or indoor ceramic processes, and work together with the rest of the Powerhouse team.”