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Art Project: Title TBA (Metal Pinwheel)
Last year (2009) was the first year I've had art at Burning Man. I made five 8' wooden feathers and mounted them on the trash fence: Trash Fence Feathers.
It was pretty exciting and I loved hearing people's reactions. It was
also a fairly easy project; I had access to wood and a jigsaw on the
ranch and did the work in my off hours during set-up. But I'd been
talking for a few years about making a giant pinwheel out of metal. I
took a welding class last year from Rebecca of Flaming Lotus Girls, but
I sure don't feel proficient enough to execute a metal project alone.
Mostly I was concerned about the engineering and physics aspect of the
piece: how would it hold up to wind? How to mount it? Do I need guy
wires? That sort of thing. Well, my friend Andy surprised me with an
offer: "I'll draw up the plans for the piece if you promise to build
it." Hmm, could I do it?
The two of us met at Zeitgeist to discuss the basic designs. I brought
along a few toy pinwheels and we went over dimensions, winds, lighting
and fire. And whether it would be affordable. We decided that there
might be ways to source inexpensive parts. I was starting to get
excited!
I never quite grasped that a LOT of Burning Man artists get help with
the more technical side of their pieces...I kinda thought that was
cheating. But if you're gonna have people climbing on your art or
riding on your art and you're only the "conceptual" person, you
definitely need someone who can make sure that your art will be safe.
Ish. Turns out Andy is working with a smal design and engineering firm
called Instinct and they've helped a lot of artists realize their visions. Stay tuned as Andy helps me realize mine!
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