Interview 8: Gabrielle, an Architectural Metalworker
Gabrielle is an artist and architectural metalworker, and the founder of Shelton Studios in Brooklyn, NY
Women Who Weld, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that teaches women how to weld and find employment in the welding industry, has launched a new program - Arclight - in which we showcase women who create, ideate, and collaborate across specializations and trades.
Gabrielle Shelton is an artist and architectural metalworker. She established Shelton Studios in Brooklyn, NY, over 20 years ago. Gabrielle received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1995. Below is an edited and condensed interview between Samantha Farrugia, the founder of Women Who Weld, and Gabrielle in May 2021.
Where are you calling from today?
I'm calling from SoHo, outside of a job site, it’s a beautiful residential loft. I just dropped some stuff off at another job site in the West Village. I'm building a staircase here, and I’m here to do some measuring and layout and stuff like that.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Los Angeles, in the neighborhoods of Silver Lake and Echo Park. And it was fantastic, I loved it very much.
Do you plan to ever move back?
Absolutely. I would have moved back already but I raised two New York kids so they are not so interested in moving to California. So probably once they're in college, I'll consider relocating.
How old were you when you moved away from Los Angeles?
18, when I went to college.
There have been a lot of changes in Los Angeles. How different is it now compared to when you were growing up there?
It's very different. And I agree, there have been a lot of changes. In the ’70s, when I was growing up, there were also a lot of changes. The art district was constantly moving. There was tremendous violence for a period of time. I feel like what's happening now is sort of the ebb and the flow of a city, like other cities go through. The biggest issue in Los Angeles right now is the homelessness and it needs to be figured out. I cannot imagine a task force that can deal with what they have to deal with, because there are so many tiers that create homelessness. So that is an epidemic that needs to be figured out in Los Angeles, and, honestly, across the world. My love of California is partly Los Angeles, but the majority is my family. I have a huge family and they're all there. So when I say California love and my desire to move back there, it's to be in the same time zone as my family.
Where did you learn how to weld?
Most of my family lives in Santa Barbara and one of my uncles is also a welder and an artist. When I was very young, we had a big shop in the family compound and I would always wonder in there; so I learned how to weld pretty young, and just gravitated to it.
Your uncle Jeff in Santa Barbara is an incredible architect! He has such a unique style.
Oh, he's amazing. I really lucked out. I'm just pretty much doing what my family does. My other uncle is an incredible musician, so between music, architecture and design, and fabrication and building – I grew up learning how to read blueprints – I pretty much had it covered by my uncles. They were incredible mentors, and continue to be.
Where did you live in Chicago while you attended the School of the Art Institute? And what did you take away the most from the Art Institute?
I lived in Wicker Park from ’90 to ’95, it was a great neighborhood, not quite what it is now. I loved living in Chicago. I had gone to art high school in Los Angeles and it was a fantastic place to transition to. The facilities at the Art Institute were amazing and I dove more into metalworking, and particularly foundry work. I had never done any casting before Chicago, but in my freshman year I wandered down to the foundry and wouldn't leave. The head of the department, Carolyn Ottmers, is an incredible artist and she mentored me. I also did silk screening, photography, painting, basically all forms of art. I pretty much lived at the school, I was there all of the time. I think the biggest takeaway is that I learned you can make art in whatever form you want. Also, you kind of need to have a fallback; not everyone gets to support themselves as a career artist, so it's pretty good to have some other skills that are as close to your art as possible.
What prompted your move to New York City after you graduated from the Art Institute?
I was 21 and New York City, at that point, had all these great art galleries. New York has always had great art galleries, but I felt like, particularly in the mid ’90s, there was this incredible scene of art and performances and music, and I had a lot of friends who we're moving here and there was really cheap warehouse space in Brooklyn. I didn't want to go back to California at that time; I felt it would be too easy for me to go back because I have this great family in the arts. I wanted to just keep moving east, and I can't imagine not moving here.
Do you miss New York City of the mid ’90s when you first moved there, when things were much less expensive?
Yeah, especially in my neighborhood, a lot of the small shops are gone and the entire waterfront is covered in condos – that stuff I don't like. There are things I do like. I like that the crime is down. I like that there are now huge parks everywhere, and soccer pitches, and they've planted trees. A lot of the older buildings are getting restored instead of knocked down. And one thing with Covid – I oddly fell back in love with New York because it cleared out. So many people with means left the city, and left were the workers and locals and anyone who didn't have an escape, and it sort of took off that layer of excess. The city felt very real again. I guess that's a hard silver lining, because I know so many people are out of work, and so many small places closed, especially restaurants. My friends in the restaurant and bar industry are just devastated.
What type of work does Shelton Studios typically engage in?
Architectural metalwork. And I'd say at the smallest end, size-wise, not necessarily scope-wise, is custom hardware – we machine or fabricate all our own stuff, and at the other end are large staircases, like, a five-story staircase and the rails. And everything from furniture to brackets, doors, shelves, really everything in almost all metals.
A lot of math is involved in the work you do, especially when building a staircase.
I went to public schools in Los Angeles and I definitely lost out on math teachers; I did not have any good ones and I did not have a relationship with math. Then once I started building stuff, decimals and fractions made sense in a way that had never made sense to me conceptually. And I fell in love with it. But not everyone is going to comprehend it in the same way. My son is a math genius and he's never built anything – he's just great at it. And I think some people need to apply it for it to make sense. But once you realize the importance of decimals, it changes your entire experience as a fabricator or machinist.
We break down fractions for all participants of Women Who Weld’s intensive welding training programs, and it’s great when people who have always disliked math have their breakthrough moment.
That's it. I mean, it's exactly as you said, it's all about that breakthrough moment.
Who do you work with on projects?
I work with architects, designers, private clients, or contractors; and sometimes it's a combination. I get brought into a project in various ways, either on the construction end or the design end. My favorite kind of working experience is when I am a part of the conversation in planning on all levels, so that I understand what the client wants and can help manage their expectations.
What type of projects are your favorite to work on?
Ones that aren't boring. My favorite projects are ones that are challenging, and where everyone involved is efficient and a good communicator, and the timing and schedule are practical.
Which days of the week do you work and what’s your schedule like each day?
I work five to seven days a week and I start early in the morning. Everything has shifted a bit with my kids doing remote learning. But generally, I go in very early because my husband goes in later. I start in the shop. If I have an install day, we'll load up – now I outsource my install crew, that's a new thing because of Covid. So I'll go and meet the install team in the city and we’ll unload and install for however long, which can take a day or a month depending on what the project is. Then I’ll go back to the shop. Usually most days are a combination of shop work, meetings, and site visits. And then I try to be home by the time school ends at about 3:30 p.m. to be with the kids for the afternoon. Often, lately, I come home and make them lunch – have lunch with them – and then go to the shop. After dinner and homework, usually about three days a week, I go back to the shop from 8 p.m. to midnight. And if the kids are going to hang out with their friends on a Saturday, I will go to the shop and work. The shop is close to my house so everything is flexible. I definitely try to consolidate my site visits to two days a week, so I can have two days where I don't leave the shop, unless there's a big install. So, basically, I'm all over the place all day.
What did you do yesterday?
Yesterday, I got to the shop at 7 a.m. and wrapped up two of the doors that we made for a private residence, put them in the back of my truck with one of my guys, and drove them into the city and met the install crew. They carried the doors up the stairs to a beautiful SoHo loft and I took the tools up the elevator. We installed the doors; it was our second day installing so it was pretty fast. We were done by 12:30 p.m. and we loaded everything out, and I drove them to another job site and dropped them off. I picked up lunch for my son, drove back home, ran in the house and dropped off the food, and came back to the shop and prepped a big mirror frame and patinaed it for a few hours, and answered phone calls and emails through all of that. Then I got my daughter after school and took her to soccer. While she was at soccer, I went to a site visit and took measurements, and then picked up a chicken and made chicken and salad for the family. I'm working on making a book, so, after dinner, I worked on the layout until about midnight.
Tell me more about the book you’re working on.
It’s more of a catalog than a book of all my little stair sculptures and cityscapes. It’s almost done, it’ll be ready in a couple of months. It’s called Cityscapes and it’s getting produced by a small printing press in Santa Barbara.
I did a show in Los Angeles last year called Escape from New York. That's one of the things I like about stairs: there’s always a route out, or route up, or route down. There’s always a way off the plane that you're currently on. And I love that conceptually and metaphorically, you're literally going on to a different level and your perspective changes with each step. And these stair sculptures, they're obviously not functional; so you have to think, “Well, what does that represent?” I have my perspective, but there are a lot of different ways to look at the situation, and maybe the people I'm working with are not seeing this the same way that I'm seeing it, so let me try to get into their head. Sometimes you step on a stool and all of a sudden everything looks different. So, it's the idea of getting out of your head, getting out of your space.
How many people are on your team?
Currently, it's the smallest group I've had since I started, which I actually love. Right now, I have three people in the shop full-time and three people on my install crew, but they are not full-time.
What was the size of your team at its largest?
10 people.
Which welding process do you primarily engage in?
Mostly TIG welding. I'd say the shop does about 90% TIG welding. We also use MIG, and we braze and solder brass and bronze. I almost never stick weld.
What’s your favorite welding process and why?
I really like TIG welding. Partly because it's really easy to clean and it's really beautiful. I had to take a break from TIG welding for a while when I was having kids, and when they were really young because the tungsten is radioactive and there are definitely some parts of the process that are not good for a woman in her childbearing years; so once the kids got through the toddler phase, I slowly got back into it. But at that point I had a large crew because I had so many more demands with young kids, so I had to delegate a lot more of the work, but now I'm fully back into it. The newest thing that I'm into is brazing. And now that I have a little bit more time, I’m trying to perfect it.
What is your favorite metal to work with and why?
I love steel. Cold rolled steel, mostly. It just finishes really nicely. Hot rolled too; hot rolled bends really easily. But I'd say both hot and cold rolled steel are my favorite. They're fun to work with, they come in so many different sizes, shapes and extrusions. And for fabricating or machining, definitely bronze and aluminum. Although I hate welding aluminum, I pretty much refuse to do it. Unless, you know, I'm begged to.
What was it like to start your own business early in your career?
The reason I started a business was to supplement my art career; I wanted to be able to afford an art studio and I couldn't do that with just my art or working for other people. Also, when I started my own business, I still worked part-time for other people, because I didn't have enough business of my own. And with each job I would reinvest money instantly into another tool. And yeah, I mean, that was always the idea: have my own business so that I could have an art studio, but then somewhere along the line, the business became much bigger. I never laid it out with a business plan. It really just grew on its own.
Does your income vary or remain steady year-to-year with an established business?
It's varied, and it's hard to say why that is. Sometimes it's the economy, and that's the easy one to figure out, or sometimes it's not a great crew, or there are a lot of issues with the building, or I underbid a job. And that can really throw off my income and the money coming into the shop. But that's all part of the learning curve of growing your business. There were definitely certain years where I did really well and certain years where I took a huge hit; that's just part of it.
Do you oversee the administrative and operational aspects of your business?
100%. I found that when I had other people do it, everything was too scattered for me. It's easy for me to think about a lot of things at once. And if I know what's coming in, and I know what each job is and what each job needs, it's easy for me to multitask in that way. Whereas some of the crew is not going to be as good at multitasking, but they're incredibly focused on the task at hand. If I'm doing a patina, I can also be on the phone. It is a lot, but for me it’s always worked. And sometimes, socially, it's hard for me to blend into a conversation because I'm thinking about all the jobs in process and what should happen the next day. But for the work, it works.
What is it like to run a business and raise two teenagers?
It's a lot easier now than it was when they were younger. When they were young, it was very, very difficult, probably one of the most challenging periods of time in my life. But now just feels like a breeze. They’re awesome kids; they're good communicators, they both do really well in school, they're self-motivated, they're talented. Like, it's easy. The early years were really hard though.
I wonder if someone would ask a father this same question? Is it sexist to only ask the mother?
It’s not sexist. I've thought about this, and you're right, men never get asked that question, but I think it's really good to ask women. Some women may disagree with me on this, but most of the time it is a question specifically for women, of course there are exceptions. Because – and I'm talking about a heterosexual couple, which is different – even if the couple share their responsibilities, generally, it's the mom that does the extra level. The mom has the agenda in her head all the time: the doctor's appointments, the school schedules, sports – that's just in your head. And yes, I’m generalizing, but I do think that working moms are allowed that acknowledgement.
You and your daughter are writing a children’s book about your daughter’s perspective on your job. Can you tell me more about that?
This is something that we've wanted to do since she was in elementary school. She had noticed there is a range of moms: working moms, moms that don't work, moms that never come to school, moms that are always at the school, and she always picked up on that stuff. My daughter gets along with everybody and she is really observant. And she noticed that other than one kid whose parent was a police officer, I was the only one in the trades. I was really active in the elementary school and I would pick the kids up – and the back of my truck was full of tools and the girls would laugh or tease – but she was never embarrassed by it. So we're writing the story, and making it a little bit more dramatic, but it's basically about having a working mom and how it compares to the non-working moms, and what that's like as a kid, from her perspective.
Does your daughter have an interest in metalwork?
Zero interest in metalwork, but she is an incredible artist. She wants to be an interior designer or an architect or an artist.
Does your son have an interest in metalwork?
Zero. They were in my shop with me until they started pre-K. I had part-time childcare, but most days I brought them into the shop when they were little. When I got pregnant, I brought in air filters. I had a big office and they had their playpens in there. So we would just not do any super toxic stuff while they were there. They've had to go to job sites with me, and sit in the car with me and the guys. I have a big truck with a bench seat, so there were many years where it was the two of them in their car seats and a couple welder guys shoved between the car seats, and another in the front seat. It was a gnarly period.
What are your future aspirations for Shelton Studios?
I’ve sort of already started this transition of taking less of the larger construction jobs and making the majority of the projects shop-based, as opposed to having all my tools at a job site and building something entirely on a job site, which is something I'd like to phase out, at least for a while. In the next couple of years, I’d like to do a real overhaul on my tooling, I think it is time to update a few major pieces of equipment. I don't know how that's going to happen, but it's definitely a goal that I'm going to figure out. And in four years, both my kids will be in college, so I would consider being more bi-coastal at that point with the studio, as I have a lot of work opportunities in California.
Do you see yourself becoming an instructor? Is that of interest to you?
It's of huge interest to me. I absolutely see that in my future. I don't know why I didn't mention it. I have mentored people in the past, especially women. And now there are so many women coming up in the industry, it's really great, but I remember not feeling very welcome in the construction industry when I was young. And I think that giving women a space where they can get comfortable with the tooling and learn a few of the very common things that men will do. And I'm talking more about being a woman in this industry and the doubt that men cast on you. When I was younger, that was always way harder for me to deal with than the more stereotypical things you could imagine; that sort of constant skepticism, “How did you get into this?” When I started, people were like, “Oh, do you work for your dad?” and then, in my 30s, it was like, “Oh, do you work for your husband?” But yeah, I would love to mentor young women. I don't think I need to be the one who teaches somebody how to weld; what I usually like to do is say, “Here are the basics, now explore it. Here's the safety stuff, here's how the torch works, here's how you want to set your gauges, and now just play and feel it.” If you want to be a fabricator and a builder, you need to learn a lot more than just welding; the welding will get better and better the more you do it, but you need to have a full picture.
“Not everyone gets to support themselves as a career artist, so it's pretty good to have some other skills that are as close to your art as possible.”
What are the things you like most about being an artist and architectural metalworker?
I like the range of projects that I can work on. I like the range of things I can do with the material. I like being able to move between functional and non-functional objects and work. I feel like it keeps a really good balance of my creative brain.
What are some challenges you’ve encountered as an architectural metalworker, if any?
The biggest challenges I've encountered are really just with communication and people. Sometimes the work is really hard. Sometimes something has to be taken apart and put back together. Sometimes it's tiring, it's heavy, but I don't necessarily find that challenging. Egos or unrealistic expectations are the things I find incredibly challenging.
Do you have advice for women who may be interested in pursuing a path in architectural metalwork?
Absolutely go for it! Just jump all the way in and try everything. And metalwork is not just one thing – it's not just welding, it's also machining or casting or finishing. I think one thing that happens when you are a woman who welds, people like to just say, “Oh, you're a welder.” Like, yeah, but I also drill holes and grind and all these other things. So learn how to weld, get as many hours in as possible, but also know that it’s so much more than just welding, that welding is one part of the process as a metal fabricator.
Also, you have to keep yourself pretty fit and flexible to get in under something and weld it. In my 20s and 30s, before I had kids, I never went to the gym and I was just ripped! I never worked out, it was just from work – and also being younger. But you have to keep yourself fit. And mind what you're inhaling, it catches up with you. And not to sound like a mom, but wear your goddamn safety glasses!
I still hurt myself sometimes; it's always when I let my guard down. You can't ever screw around with this stuff. There are lots of little injuries that happen all the time, and they're really not that big of a deal and you move through them. But the big ones can happen and you have to be alert.
What are your hobbies outside of metalworking?
I’ve gotten really into gardening. I would say that's probably my biggest hobby, other than making art and my career. I write a lot, but I don't know if I would call that a hobby or not. Other than working and being with the kids, I make art, I write, and I work on my garden.
If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why?
I would go to Greece, probably Crete – I’ve always wanted to go there. And I would love to go alone for a couple of weeks, and just swim and read. Reading is another big hobby, I’m a big reader. I would read, write, catch up on sleep. No Wi-Fi, no phone calls. Just swim half the day, every day.