Category Archives: Shows

Fire Bird at Burning Man

Alan attaching the first wish to the Fire Bird

2011 was my fifth year of attending Burning Man, a temporary city of over 50,000 in the middle of the harsh environment of the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. Burning Man means many things to many people. Some see it as an opportunity to cut loose from the norms of society and party their naked asses off. That’s not why I go.

For me Burning Man is a place for art and community. It is an amazing blank canvas surrounded by sky. People work so very hard in tremendously difficult conditions to give their art to the community for just one week. Much of it is burned at the end of that time. The effort and beauty are awe inspiring, even if a piece doesn’t completely work.

This year’s Fire Bird was my third attempt at bringing art to Black Rock City. The first two didn’t really work. Stone, metal, wood, and fire are all mediums that translate well to the playa, fabric not so much. Strong winds and the ever present fine alkaline dust create challenges. Every time I think I have it figured out I am reminded not so gently that, no, I don’t have it figured out quite yet.

getting ready for installation

Lesson one: nothing ever happens at Burning Man quite the way you planned it. Installation was relatively easy given that upon arrival I was told that my space wouldn’t be ready until 8pm and that we had to be out of Center Camp by 8pm because there was a private party there. A head scratcher for sure. It all worked out with my trusty assistants, Alan and Corey, there to help. Some quick edits, some additional structure, and some flexibility and we got it done. It really looked great.

Lesson two: everything instantly gets covered with playa dust. This actually didn’t bother me at all. It felt as if the piece became a part of the playa although I could have skipped the step of dyeing the reed.

covered in dust

Lesson three: Burning Man is really distracting. Duh. Although some people got the idea and added to the effigy on their own, it was much more active when there was someone there to tell them about it. I found this difficult to do but Cat, my wonderful campmate, spent time there encouraging people to interact with it. It was lovely to see people get the idea and witness their interactions.

Lesson four: carrying a really long piece of unlit fabric in the dark with people zooming around (high) on bikes isn’t a good idea. Duh again. Luckily Alan and Corey thought this one through before I did and we kept the fabric short while carrying the effigy and fabric to the fire.

Lesson five: trying to get people who are tripping at the remains of the Man fire to move and/or hold a long piece of fabric is very difficult.

Lesson six: as an artist I am merely creating a space or structure where an audience can choose to participate by attaching their own meaning. In this case, I was honored to get to witness this.

Lesson seven and the most important: I can’t do this alone. Although the concept was mine, many hands, hearts, and minds touched the Fire Bird to make it what it was.

In some ways the installation fell short of my expectations. I wished for higher participation. And I really wanted to see that 150 foot long piece of fabric carried out the fire in a solemn procession. If I choose to make art for Burning Man again I want to site it on the playa itself. I think that I’ve learned enough now that I could do that. Successfully? I don’t know.

I can’t thank Rumor Camp enough for their embrace of this project. It still would have been pretty and we still would have burned it, but without the pre-ritual that Rabbit led in our camp and the intention that we seven camp mates put into it, it wouldn’t have had the depth of meaning that it came to have for me. I was touched beyond measure. The eight necklaces that Alan made, one for each camp mate and one that hung in the Fire Bird, gave us each a token to hold on to that is imbued with the meaning of the project. I’m wearing mine now.

The installation far exceeded my expectations in the meaning it had for me. Seeing people interact with it genuinely and hearing what it meant to my camp mates made it truly represent a Rite of Passage. It was personal.

And the Burn itself? It was powerful. Asking people nicely, yet firmly, to please clear a path and hold the fabric. Standing at the edge of that powerful heat and making the decision to walk into it with Rabbit and put the Fire Bird into the embers. Watching the Fire Bird catch and then be consumed by the flames. Feeling that intense heat be absorbed into my core self. Collecting the fabric back from those holding it and being thanked and hugged by those who had witnessed the Transformation. I can still feel all that.

Yeah, it was powerful.

into the embers

transformed into heat and ash

And now . . .

I’ve just gotten confirmation that I’m going to be doing an installation in Center Camp at Burning Man. This year’s theme is Rites of Passage. I’m excited about it because it’s another try for me to find a way to bring my art to Burning Man. The festival is near and dear to me but it’s just not a soft and squishy fiber art kinda place. I’m hoping that the structure of Center Camp will create a more protected space and also a place to focus on smaller installations.

I’ll be using the 150-foot-long piece of silk I dyed for BM a few years ago. I’m going to drape it like a valance across a 12 foot pole that spans the entrance to an alcove formed where the shade cloth comes down to the ground. I’ll be making a Fire Bird, or Phoenix, effigy out of rattan, paper, and perhaps some fabric. People will be able to add remembrances and stories of transformation to the effigy over the course of the week. Saturday night after the Man burns, we will take down the fabric, unwind it from its pole, and process with the fabric and effigy to the remains of the Man fire. There we will cast it into the flames and the Phoenix will be consumed by the fire.

Or something like that.

Yew Are Here

We just got home from Veneta, Oregon last night around 9pm. It was a long day packing up and traveling home from the Oregon Country Fair. It was a lovely year, no rain, no heat, no major traffic jams. Just a good time with friends and family, seeing shows, eating at Tofu Palace, wandering the paths and listening to and playing music.

This was our fourth year of creating Yew Are Here, a living room space where people can relax amid beautiful surroundings, day or night. It was gratifying because it feels as if people finally know where we are and appreciate and look for the space. I was really glad that I pushed myself to make the new Tower Lanterns. They really pulled the space together. It feels cohesive now and even more inviting.

The Fair is very, very different from a fine art environment. People interact with things, even get inside the lanterns. I had not one but two couples comment while I was there that the Towers would make really good enclosures for their outdoor showers for their RVs. Yeah, great except for the poles running through the center of them. One couple even asked me, “How much?” I told them $1500 and, funny, they didn’t pursue it.

I really enjoy the work I do for festivals but it’s not the work I make for the gallery. The Fair is good family time. And that’s okay.

the kids got to ride in a new kind of back seat while setting up

the Arctic Tern puppets flying above the path

Washed Up

It’s at this time, when faced with 18 yards of waxy silk, that I wonder “What was I thinking?”

The wash out is always a chore. The soy wax washes out completely in hot water and soap which is much better than the old days of ironing out wax between newspaper and never getting the residue out without dry cleaning. But it takes a lot of work, a lot of hot water, and makes a mess.

And I was very unhappy to find that the biggest panels didn’t turn out the way I had hoped. I was looking for spirals of warm yellows and orange on a background of rich reds. It turns out my waxed spiral designs with their expressive brush strokes didn’t hold up to the dye and all I got were yellow splotches. Bummer.

So I redid the spirals with much bolder wax lines and overdyed with darker reds. The fabric actually turned out really well, but I hadn’t budgeted time for that extra step. So I have been humping the last few days to get it done. Sewing my little fingers off while my hubbie did all the gathering, packing, and errand running for the rest of the installation. And tonight we got them done in time to finish the rest of the packing before we hit the road for Oregon tomorrow.

I think they turned out pretty well.

I’m Dyeing, Already!

Next layer is dyeing. I used the dyes in a thin solution and, because I’m doing a direct application, I used urea in the chemical water along with my fix mix of soda ash buffered with baking soda. I used two different blues on the Water fabric but three dyes each on the Sun and the Earth. I used big brushes and it goes pretty fast but it’s a workout moving all that fabric around. This is where it would be nice to have a bigger studio where I could lay out three yards of fabric at a time. Oh well, I’ve figured out ways to do it over the years and I make it work.

Wax On

The next step is waxing designs onto the silks. This is the fun part. It’s like drawing with wax. It’s also a little nerve wracking because it’s pretty final. You can wash out the wax but it takes a lot of work and, in this case, there’s no time. So spirals, leaves, and waves then on to the next layer of dye.

New Lanterns

I’ve been working on a new project for my installation at the Oregon County Fair. Each year we take our hippie selves out of the closet and go down to Veneta, Oregon to take part in the Fair. This will be the fourth year that we’ve created a “Living Room” called Yew Are Here. It’s a non-commercial open space where people can rest and regroup before hitting the next show, getting some food, or checking out the next craft booth. For me, it’s a chance to show my art in an environment I really love.

002 The Tower Lanterns I’ve been using as the centerpiece of the space have been getting a bit worn and frayed, especially after the big rainstorm of 2009. I either needed to spend some time rehabbing them or make something new of this year. So, of course, I decided to make something new! The old lanterns were pictoral and showed the Sun/Earth, the Moon/Mountains, and the Sea. I decided to keep these basic themes but work in a more graphic style using overall patterning, color and texture which is more closely related to the fine art work I do.

The patterns and colorways are as follows:

Largest/Sun: spiral patterns with colorway of yellow and orange with overdye of reds

Medium/Water: waves patterns with colorway of greens and light blue with overdye of darker blues

Smallest/Earth: vines and leaf pattern with colorway of greens with overdye of darker greens and brown

First things first, though. I made a bunch of test swatches (top) to test out layering colors and then determined which combos worked well. Of course, since I can’t seem to help myself I ended up using thirteen different base colors, thirteen different overdyes, and doing it on both silk and cotton. I didn’t do all the combinations (it was tempting but that would have been 338 samples) but I still did one hundred fourteen.

At the bottom are the silks with the first layer of dye and dyed cotton muslins for linings. They need linings because otherwise the lights shine right through the silk.Next step, wax.

Set the Table for SAM

Here are some photos from Party at the Park–Set the Table for SAM, the fundraiser for Seattle Art Museum at the Sculpture Park I participated in last week. I was very happy with the way my table turned out. It was very nice to be included with some big names in the art scene along with a bunch of emerging artists. Here’s the way the program read: Tamara Codor, Claire Cowie, Chris Engman and Chauney Peck, Troy Gua, Alfred Harris, Victoria Haven, Luke Hayes, Joy and Reffry, Cameron Anne Mason, Joe McDonnell, Nicholas Nyland, Joe Park, George Rodriguez, Ginny Ruffner, Carolina Silva, Maki Tamura, Trimpin, Joey Veltkamp, and Claude Zervas and Leo Berk.

the table set and ready for dinner

The museum handled all the details very well and certainly made me, as an artist, feel appreciated. As participants we got to go to the event with delicious food, a full bar, music and a lovely view, not to mention valet parking. Our dinner was cooked by Renee Erickson of Boat Street Cafe and the Walrus and Carpenter (which we love and which just got a fabulous review in the NY Times). We had dinner with some uber rich folks who were also very nice. It was great to meet a lot of these artists and to reconnect with the ones I already knew. Alan and I really enjoyed hanging out with Trimpin. He is just as quirky and charming as you’d imagine and we hung out with him and his wife Cheryl for a while. He had this very amusing tribute to Liberace as his theme which included a “baby grand piano” and musical champagne glasses which he controlled using an app on his itouch.

Trimpin's Liberace table

It’s not the kind of party we usually attend, much more hoi polloi than our usual bbq crowd but it was really fun and not stuffy at all. It was a chance to both rub elbows with the rich and famous and hang out with a bunch of artists with access to an open bar. I would definitely do it again next year if they ask me.

I think Alan had a good time, too.

Getting Set for Set the Table for SAM

I’m participating in a fundraiser for Seattle Art Museum tomorrow night, Set the Table for SAM. It’s a dinner party preceding their Party in the Park event. Eighteen artists were asked to “set the tables” for a dinner party. We then get to attend the event, have cocktails and dinner, and sit at the tables that we decorated. I’m really excited about my table concept, Rare Earth. I dyed some velvet and I’m using some of the Earth Forms. I’m going to fill in with stones, sedums, beach pebbles, pods, moss, and candles. It’s been a perfect project to focus on since I got back from Rio, short and not too much work. I’m really looking forward to it.

votive holders I covered with dyed silk

rocks, velvet and vessels, oh my!

Off to Rio!

I can’t believe the day is finally here that I’m heading off to Rio. I leave in just a few hours to take the red eye to New York and then continue down to South America. I’m not looking forward to the flight, about 16 hours in the air over three flights, but I am excited to be going. I’ll be playing the part of the international artist and presenting my talk, Surface, Form and Stitch at the Rio Patchwork Design Show. I’m travelling with Barb Fox, also a winner and presenter and Bonnie Brewer, Barb’s sister and fellow art quilter. After a few extra days in Rio we’ll be heading off to Iguazu Falls on the border between Brazil and Argentina. I’m not traveling with a laptop so there will be a break in the action here on the blog until I get back.

Adventure here I come!