Tickets Available at the Door!

Join us in support of installing the Flaming Lotus Girls’ Soma at Pier 14 in San Francisco! The Black Rock Arts Foundation invites you to a special panel discussion on the topic of community-driven collaborative public art. The discussion will be preceded by a social hour. BRAF is proud to support the installation of this visually dynamic and thought provoking sculpture with this fundraising event.

“Soma with Moon,” Photo by Michael Holden (CC BY-NC-ND)

BRAF and the Flaming Lotus Girls must raise over $50,000 to make this installation (scheduled for May 2014) a reality. This is a fundraising event! Please attend, enjoy the presentation and give generously!

The price of entry includes two drink tickets, light hors d’oeuvres, and a sneak preview and entry to FLG’s SOMATIC Event, which features a silent auction with photographs by over 20 different artists and the local DJ’s of Ambient Mafia.

The panel will feature two artists from the Flaming Lotus Girls, other acclaimed BRAF-supported artists including Sean Orlando, and Burning Man Art Director and Founding Member of BRAF and Burning Man Crimson Rose, and will be moderated by KQED reporter Cy Musiker. The panel will speak on public art’s benefit to the community, on collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to art-making, as well as the challenges of being an artist in the Bay Area today.

SOMArts Gallery and Theater
934 Brannan Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
May 2, 2014
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.  (Panel discussion at 7:00 p.m.)
$50 includes admission to SOMATIC event 8:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m.

This is a 21 and over event.

RSVP on Facebook!

We are still accepting donations via the form below but all ticket sales are now at the door only. See you there!

Cyrus Musiker, Moderator

Cyrus Musiker graduated from Hampshire College, then worked in the wine business in New York City and Napa Valley for almost a decade before he succumbed to his true calling as a radio news hound. Cyrus received a master’s degree from the School of Journalism at UC Berkeley, then juggled stay-at-home Dad duties while working at a series of jobs: reporter and editor for KPFA in Berkeley and NPR’s Crossroads. He was also a frequent contributor to NPR’s Latin File, Living on Earth, Marketplace, and for “the smiling man,” Charles Osgood.

Cy’s work has been recognized by the Society for Professional Journalists with their Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service in Journalism.

Panelists

Margaret Long, Flaming Lotus Girls Artist

Margaret Long has been a Flaming Lotus Girl since 2008. Born in Grand Rapids, MI, she’s lived in the Bay Area for 13 years. She spent the first 7 of those as a bike messenger in San Francisco, and then began working on large scale art. She helped create one of the area’s largest art spaces, American Steel Studios in Oakland, and is currently the shop manager there. Margaret fills many roles with the Flaming Lotus Girls, and she designed the group’s main sculptural installation for 2011, Tympani Lambada. Margaret has installed sculptures as locally as Hayes Valley and as far away as Brazil. Her tendency to dream very big and very hot continues to be an interesting experience for all.

Sean Orlando, Artist

Sean Orlando is a multi-disciplinary installation artist, museum professional, and community organizer with an interest in collaborative and immersionary large-scale sculptural installation projects. Orlando is the co-founder of the Five Ton Crane Arts Group, principle artist at Engineered Artworks, and production coordinator at the Exploratorium.

His most recent collaborative group projects include the Steampunk Tree House, Raygun Gothic Rocketship, which was also exhibited at Pier 14 in San Francisco, and The Nautilus submarine art car. Orlando has exhibited at and collaborated with many arts organizations and venues throughout California including the Crucible, the Chabot Space and Science Center, Maker Faire, Landor and Associates, the American Welding Society, the Port of San Francisco, Coachella Music Festival, Stagecoach Music Festival, Dorkbots, Burning Man, the Black Rock Arts Foundation, The Exploratorium, the Worth Ryder Gallery, and Warehouse 416.

Crimson Rose, Founding Member of Burning Man, Burning Man Project and Black Rock Arts Foundation

As one of the Founders of Burning Man, the Black Rock Arts Foundation and the Burning Man Project, Crimson Rose’s focus is and has always been on art. Crimson’s first year at Burning Man was in 1991. Since those early years she has developed the process and infrastructure for supporting and funding artists in one of the harshest, most relentless environments in the world. The Black Rock Desert sets the stage for limitless possibilities of amazing interactive art, transforms people into active contributors to the creative process, allowing the work to transcend the concept of a static art object to be contemplated by a detached audience. Crimson’s support of artists and their creative energy at Burning Man has extended into public art placement and community collaboration through out the world.

About the Flaming Lotus Girls

The Flaming Lotus Girls are a female-driven, volunteer-based group of artists who have been making kinetic, mechanical fire art since 2000. Their work stands at the intersection of sculpture, kinetics, robotics, pyrotechnics, and electronic technology. They create interactive large-scale installations that engage viewers and invite them to become part of the art. Flaming Lotus Girls’ work is a collaborative process that empowers participants to learn new skills and become experienced, talented, and active artists. They use a unique design methodology with a hyper-fluid organizational structure. Through an open and supportive cultural environment, the Flaming Lotus Girls promote creativity, education, volunteer contribution, and leadership opportunities.

For more than ten years, the flaming lotus girls have created installations for The Burning Man Arts Festival in Nevada. These pieces include: Soma (2009); Mutopia (2008); Serpent Mother (2006); Angel of the Apocalypse (2005); Seven Sisters (2004); Hand of God (2003); Fire Island (2002); Flower Garden (2001); and Flaming Lotus Sr. (2000).

They have also exhibited at many local and international events, including: Power Tool Drag Races, San Francisco (June 2004, 2006); Fire Arts Exposition: Art on Fire, San Francisco (2006); The Crucible’s Fire Arts Festival, Oakland (July 2005, 2006 & 2007); Festival of Lights, Sausalito (Dec. 2004, 2005); Robodock (2005, 2007), Amsterdam (Sept. 2007); the Big Day Out, Australia (Jan 2007), Maker Faire, San Mateo, CA (May 2008, 2009), and Coachella Arts and Music Festival, Indio, CA (April 2009).  The FLG work in an egalitarian fashion, accepting input from anyone who regularly attends meetings. All creative decisions are made collaboratively. Ladies (and gentlemen) can join the FLG with no previous experience in metal working and the fire arts. There are hands-on opportunities for members to learn the techniques used in the design, building, and operation of our projects. Many work to refine these skills to further their own art. Their collaborative process includes an open and supportive culture promoting volunteer contribution and leadership opportunities.