Arts IN Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.

Coming up, we'll talk with metal artist Michael Vargas and mixed media artist Kaylan Buteyn.

It's all next on Arts IN Focus.

Welcome to Arts IN Focus I'm Emily Henry.

Metal artist Michael Vargas didn't discover his artistic talents until later in life.

With a background in mechanics and welding, he realized he could use these skills as a creative outlet as well, and began building sculptures out of scrap metal.

We recently visited Michael at his workshop to get a firsthand look at the process behind using hundreds of pieces of metal and a welding torch to create beautiful works of art.

Michael, thank you so much for having me today.

I can't wait to get into your artistry and the skill behind what you do, but tell me how it all began.

When did you start working with metal?

Well, at first it started out as a hobby.

Just kind of keep me busy.

I, uh.

I used to drink quite a bit, and that helped me to step away from that.

And I started out making lamps and I just wanted to add different things to it.

And so I incorporated the welding into it and I believe my first lamp I made out of a clarinet.

And then the lady loved it so much that I made it for that, she brought an old typewriter back and I made that into a lamp.

And then her friends started coming to me.

And then.

And then it's just spiraled out of control.

So I love that, spiraled out of control.

Before it spiraled out of control, what made you think, hmm?

I want to replace some habits with some more positive things.

How about I make a lamp?

Like, where did that come from?

Was it just.

I've always had, like, a background in mechanics and working on cars.

I also, I went to an Anthis Career Center for welding.

So this is just my version of everything I've learned in my life, kind of mushed together.

Yeah.

You know, welding with the mechanics and tools and, you know, I've I've always been, you know, found scrap metal and it's it's an easy material to come by.

So it's but it's not an easy material to work with, at least as I understand it.

No.

Okay, here is the thing I'm most blown away by.

Right over your shoulder, I'm looking at, like, a bust of a horse.

Yeah.

It's incredible.

I understand that for years, you have been working with metal and welding and that type of thing.

It's one thing to know how to work with the material, but it takes a real artist to be able to turn it into something that beautiful.

So how do.

What is your process?

Do you sketch first?

Do you how do you take a bunch of metal and turn it into that?

Well, I you know, I guess that quite a bit.

And I, I don't really sketch anything out.

I, I pretty much just start out with a line outline of whatever I'm trying to build, and I usually use chain or rebar or something that's, you know, somewhat malleable.

And I just kind of build the frame to it and the outline and, and solid stuff that's, you know, once again, malleable and then I just kind of fill it in and just try to keep the shape.

And it's it's tedious at some sometimes you know there's a lot of small parts and I get burnt, I get cut.

It's so that's what I was referring to when I was saying that it's, you know, it's not an easy material to to work with and it can be dangerous.

So what keeps you going?

Is it just that you have all of these creative ideas and you have to get them out?

That's that's part of it.

And it's just, you know, every day I think back to when I was drinking and when I was working jobs that I didn't like.

And I think that's what keeps me going is is that I get to do this for a living and I'm just I'm blessed to have found something that I love so much and that I get to do every day.

I want to go back to kind of your process because I still can't even imagine.

So I understand the outline and then filling it in, but that you make that sound easy and I can't imagine that it is.

Oh, I think it's one of those things that practice is made perfect, you know, because my sculptures that I've done in the past look nothing like they do now.

And I it's just something that I've, you know, a trade that I've just beat on and just really gotten good at.

And I've I've been out in this garage very late and it's it's just progressively getting better.

And I can see myself getting better from day to day, even even at this time.

That's incredible.

You mentioned that it can be tedious.

How long in general does a piece take from start to finish?

Well, it really depends on the piece, but like the the horse head I assembly, I have about a full day in to and by assembly, that means I have all my parts clean and ready to go laid out and then I go for it so and cleaning the parts and finding the parts and all that, that that's a whole nother beast in itself.

That's that's a lot of time also.

Yeah, that part didn't even occur to me.

So when you go to source all of your metal, are you looking for specific pieces to fill out a sculpture, for example, or are you just acquiring a ton of different things and using them as you need to?

I would say both because there's a lot of stuff that I use regularly, but at the same time I try to keep my mind open to different things, Just just looking around like I'm at a junkyard or something like that.

The last one I, I could explain was I found a big crane hook, and when I seen it, it was just laying there and it screamed squirrel tail for some reason.

And so I made a squirrel, and the tail was the crane hook.

And it looked really nice.

How fun it must be to go through life that way now.

I mean, do you find that it's that your life has changed now that you are an artist?

Because you do see things differently?

Oh, it's immensely changed.

It's.

It's mind boggling.

Everywhere I go, I've got it on my mind.

I'm sure my wife doesn't like that all the time, but she she she puts up with it because she I think she recognizes how much I love it and how much I love finding stuff and making things that people are just in awe of.

She must be so proud.

Oh, yeah.

So when I walked in, they said, look what Michael made for us.

You you made a PBS sculpture.

It's fantastic.

So when you set out to do that, were there like certain pieces that you knew you wanted to use or how did you?

No, that stuff I just kind of had lying around the shop.

I you know, I started out with the letters with chain and, you know, just so I can get the right, you know, shapes and whatnot.

And and then after I get the basic look of it, I add stuff that I think would look cool, like the little knobs, spin and whatnot.

And I tried to put action to any piece I can, you know, wherever I can.

I love it.

So what is it like to it just a day in the life?

Are you in the garage all day working?

Are you sourcing?

Are you what does that sort of look like?

Each day I usually wake up and I'll go to either like a junkyard or an auto parts yard, mechanic shop or transmission shops.

A number of local businesses help me out immensely with with sourcing all this stuff because I, I use a lot.

Yeah.

So.

I can imagine.

Do you identify now as an artist if someone were to ask you what you do for a living, would you say I'm an artist?

Yeah, I, I, I, I say it now.

After years of kind of hesitation, I, I do call myself an artist.

Why do you think there was so much hesitation?

Probably due to the fact that I haven't had any official training or official school or anything like that.

I just ya know, I'm just a guy who knows how to weld and kind of goes for it and people tend to like it.

So yeah, I mean, that's the in my mind, the best kind of artist because you are taking things that would otherwise be discarded or would otherwise, you know, maybe serve a different purpose or already have.

And you find beauty in them.

I mean, that's incredible.

What do you hope people take away from your work when people see the horse for example, or whatever it is you make?

Is there something that you hope they walk away with?

Just joy.

Just joy that I want them to take away.

That we don't need to be so wasteful in our society.

We're very wasteful.

And we could we could if we all work together, we could do a lot better to not have so much go to waste because I could take the stuff and make a good use out of it.

And there's a lot of stuff I use that like old wrenches and whatnot that have been around for 100 years.

And, you know, it seems a shame that for them to be in a junkyard, to be, you know, turned into a microwave or something like that.

Or turned into nothing at all.

Yeah, I'm so glad that you said, Joy.

I hope that people see Joy, because when I was looking at the photos of of all of your work, in doing my research, I kind of kept thinking that wow, these bring so much joy.

And it was almost surprising to me because if you were to ask me, hey, a bunch of recycled metal, could that bring you joy?

Could that be beautiful?

That's not my first thought.

No.

So.

So to see your stuff and go, Oh my God.

And be really taken aback at some of the gorgeous pieces that you can create.

I mean, truly, what what a cool artist you are to look at that kind of thing and be able to to see it.

I have had such a blast talking to you and looking through all of your work.

I can't wait to see what else you produce.

Thank you for all that you do, Michael.

And please continue to make beautiful work out of out of things that may otherwise be discarded.

Awesome.

Thank you.

For more information, find Gear Head Custom Co on Facebook.

I'm joined now by artist Kaylan Buteyn.

Kaylan, thank you so much for being here.

I'm really excited about this one because you are not just a visual artist, but you are a storyteller.

I mean, all artists are storytellers in their own right, but I love the stories you tell.

Let's put it that way.

When did you identify as an artist?

Oh, man.

I, I feel like lots of artists have this idea that once an artist, always an artist.

Like a lot of the people that I interview, which I'm sure we'll talk about, they say, well, since I could hold a crayon or.

Yeah, yeah.

And you know, as a kid, of course, I was into art, I was creative, but I feel like it took me a bit longer to kind of find my way.

I actually thought that I wanted to be in education and kind of went to college for that.

And once I got in the classroom and was actually doing stuff with fourth graders, I was like, really?

I am craving this like creative expression, like kind of doing my own thing, having my own voice.

And I bought a camera around that same time.

And that kind of was, I feel like the path where the path started for me.

And I'm no longer a photographer, but as many visual artists know, you kind of weave your way in and out of different mediums.

Yeah.

Okay.

So speaking of weaving, you weave together a bunch of different mediums to tell your stories.

Yeah.

So around the time that I was doing photography, I just was craving like working with something more material.

I was a digital photographer and so I started painting on the side and I decided at that point to leave my photography business behind and figure out what it meant to be a visual artist, really a painter.

And I went to grad school and then the last few years, you know, I've incorporated textiles into my work.

So right now I'm, as you said, making mixed media work.

But I kind of started out as a painter, went to grad school for painting, got my chops in the fine art world with painting, and then have added mixed media and textiles more recently.

Textiles came into my work more in the past three or four years.

Um, when I first started painting because I was a young mom, I was really painting about my maternal experience.

I painted a lot of like large abstract figures that had for me an expression of the overwhelm of motherhood.

And kind of as I worked through that, I have three kids now and my youngest is almost five, so I feel like Im at like this good place of the like five and under years are almost done for me.

I've kind of grown out of that.

And so one of the things I've been thinking about with my work moving forward is not so much my own personal art experience, but the lineage of the mothers who've come before me, the people in my community.

And so what better way to think about those things conceptually than to bring in textiles, right?

And quilting and sewing and sort of craft practices of traditionally women and homemakers and domestic persons and caregivers like it just adds this whole new dimension to my work.

So that's been more like in the past couple of years as I've, you know, kind of expanded like what I'm interested in.

I'm not so, Im, in young motherhood.

Yeah, like I just got a paint about being a mom because that's all that my life is right now.

Yeah, absolutely.

I am so amazed by the fact that you took that experience I mentioned to you before we started shooting.

I have a five year old and a one year old.

Yes.

So I'm.

I'm still sort of in the throes.

You are.

Not sort of.

You are, give yourself more credit.

Thank you.

and I don't know that it would have ever occurred to me to take that experience and and use something beautiful and creative to express it.

So that's so cool.

But then you went even a step further.

You also have a podcast.

You talk to artist moms.

What do you what is the common denominator between mothers who are expressing themselves in a way that brings more beauty to the world rather than that sort of feeling of drowning?

That was such a nice way to put that and totally that the kind of the experience of motherhood for me pushed me to really crave community, to know other artists who were in the same juggle right?

Because being an artist is such like a big identity factor, you know, like when you're an artist, it's like, you know it in your bones, you know, it's the way that you view the world is like through this lens of being an artist.

And motherhood is also just this huge thing, right?

And so it just it felt like there was just this juxtaposition and this tension between those two roles.

And I just I didn't know where to turn with like, that energy.

And and my husband actually teaches recording and music, so he could do all the gear and stuff for me.

And so I was like, Hey, if I start like interviewing people because I just I need community.

I need to like, hear from others how this is working for them.

You know, would you help me set up this podcast?

And that started in 2019.

I think we're like over 150 episodes in and yeah, just back to your question, the common denominator is that lack of visibility like, like the art world, just like many corporate and working environments, especially in the US, are not very caregiver forward or friendly.

So there's just not a lot of visibility.

And, you know, artists, it's like we're meant to be the changemakers.

We're meant to be on the front lines, like kind of pushing culture forward.

And so for me, it's like I want to see the art world that is much more inclusive of people like me.

And I want to have to leave my kids behind every time I want to go see Art.

It's like I want more places where that can be more present and and brought to the forefront.

So yeah, that visibility and then also just like accessibility of talking to people, you know, so if you can pop your headphones in and hear another artist mom or two kind of talking about their experience, like you feel so much more connected.

So I think that's kind of what the podcast has helped to provide for people.

I want to talk for a minute about the logistics of your work.

So how do you curate the the textiles and what is that process like?

And then what happens when you get a piece that you really love?

How do you then start adding your vision to it?

Okay, I love this question because I am notoriously afraid of the blank canvas.

I know many artists.

It's like one of their favorite things, like they're like, oh, I got a fresh canvas, like, I can't wait.

For me I'm like, oh, like a blank canvas.

I love I'm just drawn to material.

I'm drawn to, you know, like rips and tears and stitches and like gushy paint and, you know, texture and textile and like all of those things that are, like, juicy and yummy, like, they just, like, inspire me.

So I, I am much more inspired by having material kind of that I've collected and then, you know, playing with it, building a painting.

My practice actually usually starts by sewing, so I'll make like a quilt top, but from found material fabric, like, you know, whether it's quilt blocks that I've like purchased at a local fabric store or through eBay or if I like, sometimes I get donations of materials, sometimes I thrift stuff, go to estate sales.

So like, even that step is like really interesting to me, just like looking and seeing and collecting.

But then in the studio, you know, I, I basically make fabric compositions that are then usually stretched around a frame.

If I'm not making a like a quilt that will hang on the wall and then I add paint on top of that.

So, you know, it's kind of like I'm creating my own canvas based that is not the white blank one.

And and the pieces that you are, the textiles that you're finding.

You mentioned they are they connect us to past generations.

So give me some examples.

You mentioned the quilt squares.

Are we talking aprons?

Like what type of things are you looking for when you're seeking out these these textiles?

It's a great question.

One of the quilts that I just finished has a napkin on it that my family had used, I don't know, for the past like eight or ten years, just like a dinner napkin.

Like we just we use like an assortment of cloth dinner napkins.

And it was one that, like, just started to get like a hole and some stains and some tears and rips in it.

But it was still this like, really lovely piece of fabric.

It has this like, embroidery or embroidered flower on it.

And to me, like, that piece of fabric became so much more interesting because there's a history there, right?

It was used.

You know, that napkin is like front and center in like one of the recent wall quilts I've made.

So, like, stuff like that is interesting to me.

I actually, being an art, a visual artist who works in textile, a lot of artists, you know, say that they kind of get their start being taught by a grandma or an aunt taught me how to quilt or this or that.

Like it is very directly family lineage.

And for a long time I resisted including textiles in my work because nobody taught me how to sew.

And so I just felt like I didn't have like that sort of foundation.

Yeah.

But I actually found out last summer that my great great grandmother was like a prolific quilter and I have since come into the possession of some of her quilts.

And so just, you know, it is like in my family history as it is in many of ours, because before there was like mass production of fabric and blankets and quilts and things like people were making things out of flour sacks and, you know, like you think of the geese bend quilters and like, all of these people who, you know, had a need and they were taking and using what they had and, you know, creating something useful out of the materials that they had right in their home.

So, yeah, like lots of inspiration for textile everywhere because because it is a part of, you know, all of our history.

Yes, I love so much that you are giving voice to all of these pieces that connect us.

You're giving voice literally to caregivers who are also artists.

It's just I was so excited to talk to you because I thought, oh my gosh, what a treasure trove, and you are.

This has been such a pleasure, Kaylan, thank you so much.

Please keep doing the good work.

Thank you so much.

You're a great interviewer.

Oh, thank you.

For more information, visit Kaylan Creates dot com.

Our thanks to Michael Vargas and Kaylan Buteyn.

Be sure to join us next week for Arts IN Focus.

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Thank you for watching and in the meantime, enjoy something beautiful Arts IN Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne