‘Like working at a toy shop’: Making molten metal art with Behind the Embers
What can you make out of molten metal? Derek Franklin is here to find out.
In an era of mass-production, Mills Shoe Repair hangs on to its craft
Walking into 70-year-old Kwang Nyon Kim’s shoe repair shop in West Long Beach is like taking a step back in time. With aged paint on the walls and old industrial machines, Mills Shoe Repair has been standing for decades. Kim took over the shop nearly 40 years ago and hasn’t retired because the labor, as he puts it, became part of his body.
With ceramics, Long Beach potter Gopi Shah found her center
Shah gets in a meditative rhythm while creating in her garage studio, making dozens of mugs, tumblers, plates, planters and other functional items a day.
This Long Beach artist is making a statement with her handmade jewelry
Solis said she creates with metal because she knows metal will outlast her, but she also has hope that one day she won’t need to make jewelry that makes a statement because being queer or undocumented will be more widely accepted and using different pronouns will be more normalized.
‘Hasta la Muerte:’ Long Beach leather maker creates goods made to last forever
Holed up inside his 150 square-foot studio Estrada will work from morning until dusk cutting, gluing, sewing and designing his leather-made wares.
Seaworthy: Wilson junior creates intricately ‘beautiful’ model boats
Peter Beck’s hands, particularly his knuckles, are covered in little scars—battle wounds from a decade of woodworking. For more than half his life, the 17-year-old has built model boats that have become increasingly intricate over the years.
VIDEO: Recycled skateboard art gave Justin LaRose a new start
What can you make out of recycled skateboard decks? Turns out, nearly anything.
VIDEO: In the Studio with contemporary jeweler Charmaine Vegas
Vegas’ business and brand Bless the Theory elicits a satisfying simplicity, with a growing stock of material including silver, precious stones, copper, bronze and more.
VIDEO: In the Studio with expert printmaker Abel Alejandre
Each mark Abel Alejandre makes is a calculated, carefully delivered movement that, when multiplied, make up the beautiful subjects in his works.
VIDEO: In the ‘Studio’ with artist Copeland Holt, the ‘fine scribbler’
Step inside the “studio” of Long Beach-based artist Copeland Holt, who prefers the chaos of the outdoors to the solitude of the studio.