top of page

Highlights & Events

Sep 3

Eto Otitigbe

Member Highlight for September




Tell us about yourself


I am a polymedia artist whose interdisciplinary practice uses sculpture, performance, installation, and public art to intersect history, community engagement, and biophilic design. My public art commissions include Peaceful Journey, a permanent sculpture that pays tribute to the rapper Heavy D in Mt. Vernon, NY; Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at UVA, Charlottesville, VA where he contributed to the creative expression on the memorial’s exterior surface; and Invasive Species: Eco/Systems Land Based Initiatives, a mixed reality installation

and performance that crosspollinates urban plant life with narratives of cultural and physical migration. My upcoming public projects include Emanativ, in Harlem, NY, a permanent sound sculpture that centers Harlem’s rich music history and changing water levels in the Harlem River and Cascode, a permanent installation that translates organic forms, natural materials and data-informed design to represent the intersection of environment, health, community and data, and its collective impact on West Philadelphia residents. I am an Assistant Professor of Sculpture in the Art Department at Brooklyn College. I am the founder of Eto Otitigbe Studio LLC (eo Studio), which received the Creative Capital Grant in 2023 for Tankugbe Incubation Lab.





HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?


I created art all my life and I loved math and science. I chose to go to engineering school and work as a medical device engineer for some time. All the while I did freelance work for art installations and scenic design. After a while I got frustrated by the corporate engineering and I wanted to explore new ideas that were inspired by some of my personal travels and freelance projects. So I made a transition to becoming a fulltime artist. It took a long time and I'm still learning how to sustain my practice better. A lot of the local programs like AIM at the Bronx Museum, the Wave Hill Artist residency, and the Emerging Artist Fellowship at Socrates Sculpture Park gave me the opportunity and recourses to scale up my practice and experiment with public art which in turn lead to other larger opportunities.





WHAT INSPIRES YOU?


Nature, Science, Afrofuturism



Do you have any upcoming projects you can tell us about?


I am installing Cascode, a permanent public artwork at the University of Pennsylvania. The work used material and geometry as metaphors for issues that intersect data science and the community of West Philadelphia. Closer to home I will be installing a temporary sculpture this fall at Weeksville Heritage Center in Crowne Heights.



  HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT MAKERSPACE?


I learned about the makerspace about a year ago during Chashsama Open studios.







What is your favorite tool at Makerspace?


The automated ring rolling machine! Its so powerful and easy to use so you can get really great results. I used it to roll 14 inch diameter rings out of 1/8 inch stainless steel.



WHERE TO FIND eto:






Aug 1

Wendy Kaplan Friend

Member Highlight for August




Tell us about yourself


Wendy Kaplan Friend has been an artist for more than 40 years. Her creative and innovative works have been exhibited in galleries and in private collections. She has taught graphic design and has worked as a consultant in fine arts museums in New York and Los Angeles. Ms. Kaplan Friend holds an MA in Museum Education from the Bank Street College of Education in New York and a Multi Media Certification from UCLA.





HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?


I began as a stone carver 35 years ago and took up welding about 20 years later. Welding is a very different approach to working and creating than stone carving. In stone carving, you subtract from the subject. In welding, you form the metal and add to the material. I wanted to explore this process.





WHAT INSPIRES YOU?


I am inspired by the varied art venues at Makerspace NYC. The artists share their visions and energy and I love to collaborate with so many talented people. The positive energy at Makerspace NYC is amazing, invigorating and inspiring.



Do you have any upcoming projects you can tell us about?


I am working on a series of sneakers welded from stainless steel. I am exploring the idea of the sneakers in states of distress and incorporating paint combinations and techniques.



  HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT MAKERSPACE?


Through a fellow artist who highly recommended the studio.



Anything else you would like to include?


The staff is thoroughly professional and steeped in the intricacies of the equipment in the studio. They are always willing to help the artists, sharing their vast knowledge and experience.


What is your favorite tool at Makerspace?


My favorite tools at Makerspace are the circle maker and the induction forge.



WHERE TO FIND wendy:






May 31

Gabrielle Vitollo

Member Highlight of June

Tell us about yourself


"I make paintings and sculptures that explore the impact of industrialization on the environment. My intention is to create objects that help reshape society’s visual information systems for a more sustainable future. I received my BFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art (2012) and my MFA in Studio Art from New York University Steinhardt (2017) where I studied multi-disciplinary techniques that hybridized traditional and digital media. In 2018, I relocated to Berlin, Germany on a Fulbright Research Grant for Painting & Printmaking to study decorative armor and Albrecht Dürer’s dynamic printmaking compositions for my paintings. During 2020-21, I investigated Berlin’s geological glacial history through a DAAD Fellowship. In 2022, I relocated my studio from Berlin back to Brooklyn, NY to teach in higher education and to exhibit my art commercially. I am presently an adjunct painting and drawing faculty member at Montclair State University and Pratt Institute. Since I began metalworking at MakerSpace NYC in 2023, I exhibited two sculptures at Fredericks & Freiser Gallery and my first public sculpture at Walt M. Shammel Community Garden in Brooklyn, NY through NYC Parks.


My sculptural process involves bending, cutting, and welding recycled steel at MakerSpace NYC. After water jet cutting the shapes, I clamp the sheet metal to a table or place it in a manual brake and bend it with all of my body’s physical strength. Next, I weld the pieces together. Manipulating the metal takes a substantial effort that transforms and strengthens my body in the process. Finally, I adhere archival glicée prints of warped, abstract landscape paintings of geological flow data and satellite images onto the sculptural forms. Examples of these metalworks are currently on view in MakerSpace NYC’s front window display in my exhibition, Waveform Macchina."


HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?


"My background is in painting and printmaking, but sculpture found me. A gallery approached me after I posted 8-inch-tall flashing aluminum sculptures that I was playing around with in the studio. During a studio visit they asked if I could make a 4-foot-tall version. After two weeks of intense research on metalworking and successfully applying for microgrant funding from YoungArts, I was able to realize my first metal sculpture at MakerSpace NYC."


WHAT INSPIRES YOU?


"I spend a lot of time researching and drawing decorative armor in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Arms & Armor Wing. I am curious about these antiquated armor etching techniques as well as the bending processes that strengthen the forms. I am frequently rummaging through the art historical past to make sense of the Zeitgeist. As a painter, I am also interested in how the metal’s contour and intricately etched depictions of battle scenes, flora, and fauna can create various eye movements. In addition to the ornate Italian and German armor, some of my favorite examples are the Hungarian-style shields and the painted German tournament shield with an owl from circa 1500. The owl is surrounded by the German motto, "Although I am the hated bird, I rather enjoy that," and I think this reflects the anti-establishment attitude evidenced in my bold sculptures that challenge the status quo of the flat rectangle.


Playing with high key colors cues from my interest in the hard-edged and stripped down qualities of post-punk music combined with a more intuitive lyrical sense of line. The prints’ patterns suggest soundwaves or waveforms of light, but they also reflect my investigations of geological flow data. As a professor who teaches realism and a fabricator who painted for Jeff Koons, I am interested in this play between figuration and abstraction; the pictorial space of the artifice and the objective materiality of the real."



Do you have any upcoming projects you can tell us about?


"Currently, I am using Intaglio processes to etch satellite image landscapes onto the metal surfaces. I am also developing techniques for priming and painting on the surfaces with automotive paint for outdoor works and oil paint for indoor works, similar to the oil paintings with copper as a substrate from the 1500s and 1600s. I also currently have an outdoor sculpture installed in West Chester, Pennsylvania and I am looking for more public sculpture opportunities for the future."



  HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT MAKERSPACE?


"I learned about MakerSpace through word of mouth. An acquaintance who works with sculpture suggested that I go to MakerSpace to realize my first metal sculpture."



Anything else you would like to include?


"Metal sculpture was a breakthrough in my artistic practice and I am still going strong with painting."


What is your favorite tool at Makerspace?


"The brake! The equipment’s mechanics are fairly simple, but you can do a lot with it. It’s amazing what one can achieve with a simple lever. Operating the metal shop brake is like going to the studio and the gym at the same time."



WHERE TO FIND Gabrielle:







bottom of page