The BoxShop

The BoxShop is a studio workspace for artists in San Francisco. With over 100 working artists, our mission is to support the creation of high quality art by providing shared access to tools, skills and knowledge.

Artists work out of 20'x 8' shipping containers and
share access to a 5000-ft.² shop and a 20,000-ft.² yard.

The warehouse includes a fully functioning metal shop mig, tig and gas welders, a wide range of metal shaping equipment: benders, rollers, English wheel, planishing hammers, a break, drill presses and more. Two of the BoxShop's latest additions are a shared electronics studio and a machine shop with a mill, a lathe and associated tooling.

Watch a short clip about the boxshop and our mission.

The BoxShop from mizpoon on Vimeo.

The BoxShop is run by Charles Gadeken.

Charles Gadeken is the founder and Artistic Director of QBOX: producing over 30 events relating to art and technology. QBOX supports the creation, presentation, discussion and preservation of mechanical, kinetic and electronic art in the Bay Area.

He is also a founding member of the Flaming Lotus Girls and has helped the group create their fiery art for the last 7 years. His art has been displayed at Burning Man, Robodock in Amsterdam and the Big Day Out Festival in Australia.

He created the Illumination Project, creating monumental kinetic sculptures for the opening of Treasure Island SF, The Santa Rosa Museum of Visual Art, Reno Art Town and Burning Man. He has created some of the world¹s largest paintings and kinetic sculptures. He has created and destroyed over 500,000-sq. ft. of printed canvas.

For the last 7 years he has designed and built custom fire art for individual collectors.

His portfolio includes: Nous 09, 08 Pneuma, Spin 07, Spike 08, Hearts for the Arts - El Corazon 04, Sea Stars on Ocean Beach (National Park Service) 08, and the International Children’s Games’ Olympic Torch 07.

His collaborative portfolio includes: Flaming Lotus Girls: Soma (09); Mutopia (08); Serpent Mother (06); The Angel of the Apocalypse (05); Seven Sisters (04); Hand of God (03); Fire Island, Flower Garden, and Flaming Lotus Sr. (01-02). The Illumination Project: 20 works of art from 1996-2001.

You can see his portfolio at CharlesGadeken.com