We were lucky to catch up with Tal Avitzur recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tal, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?

When I first started visiting salvage yards to collect materials for my sculptures I found that vintage tools, appliances and scientific equipment were what I gravitated towards most. It seemed to me that companies back in the 1930s through the 1960s really put a lot of thought into the design of the their products, even if it was something as mundane as a kitchen blender. It is as if they were designing sets for sci-fi movies. For example, take a look at the photos of a motor housing from a 1937 Kenmore Imperial vacuum cleaner and a 1938 Kent-Moore headlamp tester. The first sculptures I created were robots, simply because the collection of parts I had in my workshop cried out to be made into robot sculptures. After about a year I started making spaceships, creatures, cars, masks and lamps, but maybe because there is something about robots that people can relate to, I became known as “the robot guy”. It seemed that whenever an introduction was made, what was said was “This is Tal. He makes robots.” And of course, the question I always got was “What do your robots do?” A few months ago I was again introduced as a robot maker, after over ten years of not creating any robot sculptures. I decided to embrace it and just made a new robot. It was fun to do so.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My father was a metallurgist. He taught, consulted and had a lab with a lot of tools and huge machines that fascinated me as a kid. My first job out of college was in Washington, DC working for a think tank for the Navy. As a mathematician my job was to figure out the best collection of aircraft spare parts to store aboard ships in order to keep the jets at maximum readiness. During college, I lived on a two-acre ranch with many artists and studios. Perhaps it was those experiences, along with my childhood wonder for all things sci-fi, that led me to where I am today. From my workshop, in Santa Barbara, California, filled with thousands of parts scavenged from salvage yards throughout the state, I create fantasy sculptures.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

What I find most rewarding is the thrill I get from creating something from a pile of spare parts collected from random places over many years. Also, I guess this must be true for many artists, it is quite satisfying when strangers appreciate my sculptures and are willing to pay me for them.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal is to keep having fun doing what I am doing: collecting, disassembling, cleaning, sorting and making sculptures that I find interesting. My hope is that keeping the brain active with these projects will allow my mind to stay sharp in my old age.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://talbotics.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talbotics/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/talbotics-sculpture-studio-santa-barbara