David Kleeman

For his renewal, David focused on workshops including brazing, advanced metalsmithing, and cold casting; he traveled to salvage yards and flea markets; he attended a Maker Faire; he connected with his patrons and other artists; and found new tools that would help him perfect his craft. He allowed for “exploration, travel, spontaneity, art, nature, and learning.” He traveled extensively throughout New York in New York City, Albany, and the Catskills Mountains. He explored a Maker Faire in Queens and a magical, French carnival event called Fête Paradiso on Governors Island. He visited 3D Printer Experience in Chicago to inquire about utilizing 3D printing and visited Massachusetts to visit Mass MoCA.

He got lost in Upstate New York, scouring flea markets and antique stores scavenging pieces to bring future art to life. “Like a needle in a haystack amid twisted metal at a faraway salvage yard, or hidden in the dark recesses at the back of a hundred-year-old garage, or stashed away in a colorful cigar box designated as the junk drawer catchall, there is that singular part, that broken something, or forgotten relic of times gone by. I am the treasure hunter, and the orphan master of these very things. I find them, clean them up, and set them on their journey to becoming a part of something new, an assemblage of odds and ends all cobbled together.”