Another page from the sketchbook of Man KCrew member Meredith Scheff, in which she introduces us to the productivity benefits of GTD, or “Getting Things Delegated”.
You can see more of Meredith’s artwork at LadyCartoonist.com.
ADOPT-A-DIRTBAG: Why not send a DPW / Gate / Burning Dude desert-rat hooligan (or yourself) to New Orleans to help rebuild with Lowernine.org?
Hurricane Katrina still haunts New Orleans, and she likely always will. She is an ogre. She is an abusive ex-lover out on parole. She is the backdrop, the turning point, the literal dark cloud hanging over everyone’s past, seeping out into the present, humidifying the future. Her human survivors remain buoyant — awash with both what-can-you-do resignation and silver-lining contentment.
Katrina gave America the biggest mother-nature bitch-slapping in its history … right upside this murderous and gorgeous city’s face. 80 percent of New Orleans flooded, and 1500 people died — half as many humans as the ones who perished on September 11th, 2001. Then, while the government callously sat back and watched in catatonia — like an 8-year-old pouring gasoline on an anthill — the good people of the United States mobilized to help.
When the storm hit, for a blessedly large number of out-of-towners, horrified empathy morphed into positive action.
Rick's the one in the dark grey T-shirt
In 2006, Rick Prose chaperoned a church trip from Maine down to post-Katrina New Orleans with his daughter’s youth group. Working mostly in the Gentilly area, Prose shot some video of a man scavenging gutting debris on the curb. The scavenger said something like: “You think it’s bad over here … Wanna come see my house in the Lower 9th Ward?”
they say this barge is what broke the levee ... check out bargecase.com
The man granted Rick an interview, and escorted him around the horror of the levelled neighborhood. Houses had been scooped up and smashed into other houses; entire blocks whooshed away; moldy smelly unusable former-home-guts lay everywhere. The interviewee’s family had longed to move back into their residence, but poverty and the worst natural disaster in American history conspired against them. Deeply moved, Prose returned to Maine with a promise to himself to raise money for at least that one family.
In 2007, Prose gathered some bank, and brought groups of volunteers down to work on the man’s house. Denizens of the Lower 9 who stopped by to chat gave Prose and his people put a face (or faces) on the magnitude of destruction in that area. Inspired to migrate to NOLA and localize, a now-on-a-mission Prose raised the seed money to buy the house next door to the man’s. He converted it into volunteer housing space, offices, and a communal kitchen. Lowernine.org was born.
aww, container clubhouse, like the DPW tool shed
Now, two years later, four paid employees staff Lowernine.org, as well as a half-dozen long term volunteers who receive room and board and the satisfaction of good karma in the bank. The deal is: Residents pay for the materials, and Lowernine brings the hands on deck. They also train residents in carpentry and other skilled labor. Now, because of Lowernine.org, eighteen families live in their homes again, and 50 houses total have been tweaked in some way.
“I just keep asking people for money,” Prose jokes. “I’ve become a professional beggar. We’ve definitely had an impact on the community — not as much as I’d like, so far. But there’s only so much you can do. It’s all about time and money, right? … We are at where we’re at with the number of workers we have.”
Half the volunteers arrive via word of mouth from former volunteers; half found Lowernine.org on the Internet.
… You know where I’m going with this, don’t you? …
People building a city out of nothing, for no pay, just for the joy of doing it. Sound familiar?
On a recent weekday, this writer visited Prose at Lowernine.org HQ. The typical Lower Ninth Ward street (El Dorado) boasts candy-colored houses in varying states of repair. Wild sidewalks dip and stretch, overrun by grass. In the middle of the block, at the clubhouse, a shipping container converted into storage serves as shade for the front porch; a vintage RV with battened-down awning sits in the side yard. Laughter comes from inside. It’s lunchtime. Tanned and bedreadlocked volunteers in ripped clothing exhaustedly drag their feet, flopping onto steps or broken chairs or dusty rugs to inhale their lentils and rice. Though run-down and heat-stroked, they look happy.
same asskickin' work ethic as these dirtbags
Yeah. Happy, and spent. Reminds me of “home.” This seems pretty much just like DPW / Gate setup, but with humidity.
fix it, fix it, oh please fix it
So. Um, yall. (*twirling hair*)
Who’s got time to volunteer? Who knows how to do electrical and plumbing and sheetrock and yard work? Who wants to come to New Orleans for summer camp, maybe like after the event, when you already don’t have a job and you don’t want to go back home to real life anyway?
Failing that… Who’s got a semi-cushy job which allows them to maybe donate one shift to sponsoring a Burning Type hooligan in a week or more of service to this community? It’s $100 per week to house and feed one person at the Lowernine.org headquarters. Who wants to put their money where their mouth is?
Who’s got rich friends? Who’s got burrito money? Who wants to help rebuild New Orleans?!?
I’ve seen it before. It’s amazing what our dusty population can do when we put our minds to it. Burners Without Borders is the biggest and best umbrella for volunteerism and service built by this community so far. Seriously, go read their website after this. Kind of astounding, actually.
But here’s the thing: Burners Without Borders isn’t anybody. Meaning, it’s me. It’s you. It’s whoever can come help out, or send a little pocket change to balance the scales.
So. Rick Prose and I made a deal: He will calculate the donations he receives from our kind (don’t forget to put “Burning Man” somewhere in the subject line) … and some of our best and dustiest will ship themselves out to the Crescent City to plumb, electrify, mow, roof, paint, sand, and drywall this place back into a shining jewel. Better than before.
I’ve already talked to a dozen DPW/Gate dirtbags who are chomping at the bit to conglomerate here after hurricane season. I won’t be going to the Burning Dude this year because I need to save money for a roof, so I can see you here in the hot hot months, if you’re a glutton for punishment like that (e.g., “Playa Restoration”). Lowernine.org needs skilled electricians and plumbers and roofers the most, but all are welcome, and overflow will be dealt with Burner-style. If Lowernine.org’s bunk-bed room gets full, we’ll just camp out in tents in the yard at my gutted house in the Lower Ninth across the street from the River and go fishing and have bonfires at night. Sounds fun, right?
We in this community know what New Orleans knows: If we don’t get together and start cleaning up the mess, Mother Nature is going to kill us all. Like, for real. This is NOT a test. This is all systems go.
So, in short, it’s time to save the world. Again. We know how to build a whole temporary city in a week … well, here’s a little corner of the country we could gussy up for good.
Now git to forwardin’, pretty please. There are hundreds of lists just under the Burning Man aegis alone, and plenty more theme camps and group chats and Facebooks besides. This is me, officially sounding the alarm, reporting from New Orleans that it’s still really messed up down here. Whether you’ve got some money or time to give, or some friends who do — Lowernine.org needs a hunka hunka Burnin’ love.
(I know huh. Worst pun ever.)
See you in NOLA, the City that Care Forgot. Yes? Holler at me.
xoxo
summer *at* burners without borders *dot* com
don't forget to buy ammo
From L to R: Nifer Fahrion, Lisa Schile, Meredith Scheff, Brooke Buchanan. Not pictured: Juicy Sanchez
Given that the Man KCrew draws its members from the wildly eclectic citizens and creators of Black Rock City it should come as no surprise that we too are a broadly diverse group of folks. For example our oldest builder is 62, our youngest only 24. Similarly (and perhaps despite its name) the Man Crew is by no means a boy’s club. Many women have helped create the Burning Man throughout the years. 2009 is no different, with five incredible women lending their unique skills and personalities to the task.
A long-time burner, Nifer Fahrion first proved her mettle as a Man KCrew member in 2007, when she participated in the amazing, arduous, on-playa rebirth of that year’s second Man. She’s returned to the build every year since, contributing her abundant spirit and eye for detail to many aspects of the Man’s creation. Beyond Black Rock, Nifer is a full-time artist and crafter, creating and selling original, hand-made woolen art and accessories. Her colorful creations - “all designed to induce squee!” - can be seen at NifNaks.com. Nifer says that she likes to “balance the cute & fuzzy with the tough & brawny” in her life. She rides a motorcycle daily and enjoys getting her hands greasy learning how to fix it. She is also an avid practicioner of “The Art of The Eight Limbs” - Muay Thai kickboxing.
This is Lisa Schile’s second Man build. Lisa began attending Burning Man in 2006, and first volunteered for the DPW that same year. She now runs the DPW fuel depot, supplying countless vehicles and art projects with gasoline, propane, and other vital fuels throughout the event. Off playa Lisa is a working towards a Doctorate in Environmental Science, and spends nine months of every year studying climate change effects for her wetlands research project. As if that weren’t enough, she is also a skilled pyrotechnician who regularly helps create elaborate fireworks displays around the San Francisco Bay Area, including the city’s official Fourth of July celebration.
Meredith Scheff describes herself as an “artistic polyglot” whose skills include cartooning, welding (since age 15), woodworking, blogging and Volkswagen repair. Meredith first attended Burning Man in 2004. In subsequent years she’s contributed to a number of large art projects, including The Steampunk Treehouse and The Neverwas Haul, a three-story, steam-powered mobile Victorian house. A member of the Man Crew since 2007, Meredith has twice designed and built the Man’s heart, including 2008’s Kinetic Heart, which “beat” by means of a positive-return constant-breadth cam. Meredith’s art can be seen at LadyCartoonist.com. She also frequently blogs for The Steampunk Workshop and tweets as Satiredun.
Brooke Buchanan also returns this year for her second Man build. Brooke’s first burn was in 1999. She joined the DPW in 2004, and in 2005 trained as a heavy equipment operator, a job she still performs for Support Services every year. When not assisting large scale art projects with her variable-reach forklift at Burning Man, Brooke works as a professional photographer in the San Francisco Bay Area. A graduate of the San Francisco Academy of Art, Brooke currently runs a successful portrait and wedding photography business. Her portfolio of wedding photography can be viewed at BrookeBuchanan.com. She also plays a mean accordion.
The veteran woman of the Man Krew, Juicy Sanchez (not pictured) has participated in five builds. A former lawyer, Juicy is now a certified Bikram Yoga instructor, who, along with her husband and fellow Man KCrew member, Steve23, owns and operates her own yoga studio, Mission Yoga. A two-time recipient of SF Weekly’s “Best Yoga Studio”, Mission Yoga is located in San Francisco’s Mission District, and is very popular among Bay Area Burners. A Burner herself since 2002, Juicy has also contributed to many well-known playa art installations, including Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito’s “Passage” and “Crude Awakening”, for which she helped fabricate the massive metal figures central to those pieces. She also holds the record for the highest playa wedding, set in 2007 when she and Steve23 were married atop the 100′ tall Crude Awakening oil derrick.
A page from the sketchbook of Man KCrew member Meredith Scheff, in which Fawkes, the Black Rock Station Crew Chief, lays down the rules.
click to see full-size image
A multi-talented artist and cartoonist, Meredith also blogs for The Steampunk Workshop.
Black Rock Station, Nevada - June 27th, 2009
Yesterday, the DPW workshop stood empty, a nondescript metal quonset amidst the low, gravelly scrub that rings the Black Rock desert. Today the workshop is full.
Full of people. Full of movement. Full of sawdust.
Full of activity and creativity and - to keep things balanced - a little destruction.
Full of music from a dusty stereo, doggedly fighting its hopeless battle with The Carpenter’s Orchestra: the bass drone of belt sander and shop vac, the resonant, alto buzz of table and chop saws, the three tenors, jigsaw, Sawzall and drill, and the 30,000 rpm soprano herself, the trim router, ever the diva.
Full of intention, the magickal force necessary to resurrect an icon from the ashes, so that it may once again take its place at the center of Black Rock City, our dear dusty Brigadoon.
Full of the elaborate dance of lore, luck and skill that gives birth to the Burning Man.
Man Build 2009 has begun.
A few months ago I was hanging out at Zeitgeist and a new friend of mine, Jessica Wollow, tells me she is interested joining the 
Flaming Lotus Girls (FLG). So we chat about how to contact them through their web site, and what I know about other people who have become part of their artist’s collective. And the next thing I know Jessica is working on SOMA, the new FLG piece that was chosen as one of the Burning Man 2009 honorarium installations. Most of you are familiar with the Flaming Lotus Girls. They are a female-driven group of artists who formed in 2000 to create elegant fire sculpture, they call themselves the mavens of lipstick and accelerants. Their sculptures are composed of steel, stainless steel, copper, glass, wood, light, and fire.
That is Jessica up there in the corner and these are her photos of one of the two spinning balls of fire that are going to be inside the “nucleus” of SOMA.
Is there something you have always wanted to do, build, create, take to Burning Man, share with other Burners? Strike out and try it today.
So I give you my friend Jessica and her introduction to the FLG.
And for those of you who like a little more action check out the video.
Previously exhibited at Burning Man 2008, Celtic Forest, by artists Laura Kimpton, Jeff Schomberg and Bob Hofmann, is unique in its materials (metal and fire), scale and artistic vision. Fire will glow weekly from the Book of the Raven and surrounding tree-like candelabras with fire dancing by Controlled Burn.Opening Reception
Friday, June 26 5-10pm
Corner of Sierra St. and Island Ave. Reno, NV
Wine & Appetizers: Sierra Arts Foundation Gallery
Featuring Celtic Music from 5-8pm
Fire Dancing by Controlled Burn 8-10pm
In addition Laura Kimpton will be giving a free workshop and lecture on Saturday, June 27. We will be there and hope you will too.
This art installation is brought to you by the Black Rock Arts Foundation’s Civic Arts program as part of its mission to bring interactive artwork into communities worldwide.
BRAF extends its sincerest gratitude to the City of Reno Arts and Culture Commission, Freight House District LLC, Sierra Arts Foundation, United Rentals, Fernley Electric, Peppermill Resort Spa Casino, Sands Regency Casino Hotel, and the BRAF-Reno Support Team.
To read about free live music on Sundays and Fire Jam Tuesdays throughout the summer: http://braf-reno.ning.com/events
Rathskellar wants you to get out of their camp.
Get out of their camp and do something, that is. The organizers of Rathskellar, a new theme camp “risen from the ashes of Spike’s Vampire Bar“, are asking all of their members to volunteer with at least one other group at Burning Man.
As Rathskellar co-founder Chris “BoyChaos” Bishop says, “Many of us already choose to work with other groups for the growth and benefit of our city. Making this a requirement to join our camp was a good way to encourage more people to do the same, and to show them the value of such participation.”
Their experiment is already bearing great results. At two recent DPW volunteer work weekends, the Rathskellar crew showed up in force, contributing their sweat, blood and beers to the many tasks needed to prepare Black Rock Station - Burning Man’s Nevada work ranch and permanent staging area - for this year’s event. The Black Rock Desert also benefitted from their efforts, with Rathskellar volunteers helping to clean the playa of nails and other MOOP (Matter-Out-Of-Place) which is sometimes brought to the surface by heavy Winter rains.
“These work weekends play a vital role in delivering on Burning Man’s promise to Leave No Trace,” says Chris, noting that “They’re a lot of work, but they’re also a whole lot of fun.”
Doug Worley, Rathskellar’s Minister of Combustible Arts, added “Our members got a chance to meet and work alongside some of the people who make Black Rock City a reality year after year. For us, Burning Man is about connection and contribution, and what better way to demonstrate that than by helping out?” In addition to volunteering with the DPW, Rathskellar members have lent their efforts to the DMV, Center Camp Cafe, the Basura Sagrada temple, the Black Rock Rangers, Camp Arctica, BRCPO and the Man KCrew. Off-playa, they’re heavily involved in NIMBY, a “DIY Industrial Art Space” in West Oakland, California that has been the birthplace of many well-known playa artworks. “We consider it very important for everybody to get out of camp at least once per day to enjoy the event and contribute something to the playa,” says Doug.
Of course, on top of all this, the Rathskellar folks still have a theme camp to build. They’re starting nearly from scratch too, having ceremonially burnt the Spike’s bar last year. “As well-loved as Spike’s Vampire Bar had become over the past five years,” offers Rathskellar’s resident linguist, Zak Scott, “it was time for a change. We wanted to go deeper - we wanted to go underground.”
In German-speaking countries, the word “rathskellar” refers to an alehouse in a room set below street level. For its organizers, the term means underground, or as their website says:
…and here, underground means everything from the seedy, Jungian shared underbelly of Black Rock City to the stays-in-Vegas cabaret glam that unfolds on playa. This a den of inventors and innovators, drinkers and dancers, builders and breakers, barkeeps and bar rats, merrymakers and motorcycling miscreants and all that lies in between. Rathskellar is where we Mad Scientists make our monsters, create our machines, ply you with libations, and see where your inspiration leads you. Dark and industrial, sexy and corseted; Rathskellar is a little bit of spooky to balance out the endless techno. This is where the wild things continue to roam. Come, brave souls, and roam with us!
Or as Zak puts it, “Think of Rathskellar as Goth/Industrial… Revolution.”
To help raise funds for this worthy endeavor, the Rathskellerites are throwing FOUNDRY, a fundraising event at San Francisco’s DNA Lounge this Saturday, the 20th of June. Featuring musical performances by Unwoman and Rhubarb Whiskey, and burlesque by Ariyana La Fey, Sparkly Devil, L’il Miss Never and Miss Kittie, FOUNDRY promises to be a singularly memorable night of “Mad Scientist Cabaret and Industrial Burlesque”. If you’d like to help Rathskellar become a reality, please consider attending.
“We’re also always looking for more like-minded folks to join our camp. If you want a Burning Man experience you’ll never forget, check out our website and then drop us a line,” says Chris. “We’re not Vampires anymore. We don’t bite… much.”
As an artist who has been creating work to display at the dust fest for well over a decade, I am fascinated by the process of playa art making. You might not know this but it is truly a unique process which you will not find replicated in the Artworld (captial A artworld). My Black Rock City artmaking process has been something like this: initial inspiration happens; next, the evolution of the conceptual framework; followed by the process of translating that idea into a proposal (well, most of us do this; Michael Christian doodles on a napkin, but he’s charming and produces provocative work, so he is a special case); then comes the obsessive build, build, build time, and finally struggling with the complications of the desert to install your work. All of this is done within a six month time frame.
I have been curious how other BRC artists approach their work; what they are inspired by and how they face the challenges of building art on our desert platform. So to fulfill my own curiosity and to give you some insight, I am randomly interviewing a few of this year’s Honorarium artists for your reading pleasure.
Name: Rox ScapiniJess Hobbs: Tell me a little bit about yourself. What might be pertinent to know about the creator of “Bio*tanical Garden”?
Rox Scapini: I’m an artist and I have been making sculptures for 16 years. Sculpture is my favorite form of art because it gives me the possibility of bringing my imaginary world into reality. Sculpture for me is not about materials but physical presence in space. My style is figurative but not realistic, and my sculptures represent something that “might” exist in this world. I have a strong fascination of cyberpunk literature (HR Giger is the artist that most influenced me, indeed) and a cynical view of our world.
JH: Have you produced work for Burning Man before? If not, what work has affected you the most?
RS: Last year was my first time at Burning Man, and I thought it would have been so much better to actively participate creating something. Then I realized this year’s theme was “Evolution”, which is one of my favorite subjects … because I have so many ideas about possible ways we might evolve! So I presented one of the projects I had in mind, the one that seemed most suitable to be presented on the playa, and it got approved.
Of last year’s artworks, one I liked most was the wishtree (real name Arbor Animus), the tree that had sentences written on little pieces of paper hanging from the branches, and lit in blue. It had a bench inside, so that you could sit and enjoy the magical atmosphere it generated. (JH: This piece had a similar feeling for me to Yoko Ono’s Wish Tree). I also really loved that kind of huge bird cage (Altered State) that everybody could climb and had a swing hanging from the cupola roof. That also created a dream state space.
 Arbor Animus by Preston Dane, David Ort and Annie VainchenkerPhotographer: Jared Mechaber |
 Night time at Altered State by Kate RaudenbushPhotographer: Anthony Peterson |
The desert is a very peculiar ambient place to display art. I am still thinking of the challenges it will imply. For my art piece I’m using a lot of silicone, and it tends to pick up dust, so I will have to constantly wash it off. This is a special silicone that really looks like skin, and it´s very expensive. Originally I was thinking about latex because it’s cheaper, but it shrinks with the heat, so I had to change the plan. In the beginning I wanted to create a greenhouse space, but I had to face the fact that the heat would have made it impossible to enter it during the day! Glass was also a bad idea…so I decided it would have to be a garden instead, so I didn’t have to worry about making it look like a greenhouse.
JH: Have you produced work outside of Burning Man, not just art, include all creative work (cooking, gardening, design, etc.)?
RS: I’ve been creating art since I was a teenager, and it has always been what I wanted to do. All of my jobs have been related to art: art restorer, painter, set constructor for movies, advertisements and theatre. I’ve been assisting artists in their projects and worked for big decoration companies in Italy and Spain, where I lived before moving to California.
JH: Give me a brief synopsis about your piece “Bio*tanical Garden”.
RS: It is a 10 x 10 gazebo structure that displays some very peculiar plants: trans-plants in fact! There are different kinds of fauna: human parts that grow from trees (like fruits), organs that are cultivated in soil, and colonies of appendixes growing like fungi from the bark.
For the human parts I cast real people’s hands and ears, and then made them out of silicone to have the texture and consistency of skin. The organs were a little more complicated … I had to model them with clay, cast them and then make them out of silicone. A longer process.
JH: What inspired the proposal for “Bio*tanical Garden”? For example, when creating Mutopia last year, we were heavily inspired by the World Seed bank that just opened in northern Norway and the atomic history and use of the Nevada landscape. I’d love to hear your inspirations.
RS: Years ago I read something about cloning semi-human beings as a source of transplant organs. I found it an abhorrent idea and envisioned a greenhouse producing spare organs. Of course this is a grotesque idea, but really not so far from reality. I wanted to present it in a very direct way that could have a strong impact on the observer, so I made these organs grow out of soil, with all the germs and bacteria that includes. Which is a paradox of course, but the whole concept is. I wanted it to be realistic and repulsive at the same time.
JH: How is your project coming along?
RS: I have been able to find many things that I need for a very good price, like the gazebo structure that is going to be the Garden area. Most of the materials needed to create the organs are very expensive, so I need to save money on less important things, elements I can find a good alternative solution for. Most of my team members have been my models for the castings, and some of them are in charge of specific issues, while I am the one creating all the molds and positives.
It’s taking all my free time, but it’s coming along!