BRAF ON THE PLAYA – CALL FOR PARTICIPATION!

Exquisite Corpse

Amoeba Pillows
The Black Rock Arts Foundation supports interactive art projects in off-playa communities, worldwide and year round. Though the focus of our work is off the playa, each year we return to our source of inspiration, to that city where interactive art is everywhere you look: Black Rock City.

We eagerly look forward to our stay on the playa as an opportunity to connect with our supporters, to inspire others to instigate interactive artworks in their hometown and to educate about our mission and our projects.

On-playa, we host an art-making activity that bridges the gap between those who are able to visit BRC, and those who cannot. This year we embrace Burning Man’s theme, Evolution, bringing into play a fun side note in art history: the game of Exquisite Corpse. Exquisite Corpse is best known as a collaborative drawing game invented by the Surrealists.

Whether or not you can make it to BRC this year, we invite you to play Exquisite Corpse by mail… and get a drawing mailed back to you, postmarked BRC! To read more about how to play and participate, visit

http://bmbraf.wpengine.com/events/on-the-playa-2009

… or stop in on the playa and play a game!

In addition, we are making pillows for our camp. Get Involved! YOU are the artist! We’re looking to you, our extended, international community of Burners and Non-burners alike, to help us create pillows for our Petri Dish on the Playa and and to submit them to the project via mail. See below for guidelines and instructions.

Guidelines and Instructions:
1. Pillows can be 8 inches to 1 or 1 1/2 feet. A little larger or smaller is fine.
2. We encourage you to use reclaimed and reused fabric. Look around… any old items of clothing you can cut up? Any left over fabric from past projects you can use? Make it a goal to not buy any materials and you’ll be surprised of the creative solutions you come up with!

3. We are trying to make the pillows resemble amoebas, in their many forms.

4. Avoid using any sparkly or fuzzy fabrics that may shed or applique items that may fall off.

Black Rock Arts Foundation
3450 3rd Street, Bldg 2A
San Francisco, Ca 94124

Pillows will be accepted on the playa, but we prefer to have as many as possible before then. Please mail them if you can! Mail in deadline is August 17, 2008.
THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING!

BRAF Represents

Leslie Pritchett, former BRAF Executive Director, Current Board Member of the Crucible
Freddy Hahne, BRAF President of the Board
Mark Sinclair, BRAF Board Member
Melissa Alexander, former BRAF Exexutive Director, BRAF Advisory Board Member
Joe Olivier, BRAF Board Member and Tim Larson
Christopher Bently, BRAF Board Member
Amber Marie Bently, BRAF Advisory Board Member
Affinity Mingle, BRAF Advisory Board Member and Tom Mingle
The Black Rock Arts Foundation was well represented at The Crucible’s Fire & Light Soiree last weekend. We came out in force to support Leslie Pritchett, the Crucible’s new Board of Director’s Member. Leslie is a former Executive Director of the Black Rock Arts Foundation.
The celebration and art auction was great fun and we loved coming out to support The Crucible.

photos: affinity


Celtic Forest will be rockin’ Summer and Fall






Here are some additional photos from the Opening Reception from Celtic Forest: Book of the Raven. Reno is looking forward to much more fire and performance to come.

Maria Partridge tells us:
On Tuesday and Friday evenings; Celtic Forest in downtown Reno has had 125 plus people in attendance… they are enjoying the art with flame effects, the music by DJ’s and fabulous fire spinning by Controlled Burn from 8:30-10pm. We will continue this until mid August…resuming mid Sept after BM. We also have live music on Sunday afternoons from 2-5 pm…with 50-75 people on average. As you know, Celtic Forest is in the same vacant lot that the Mangrove was in last year. This lot is slated to be developed eventually BUT…wouldn’t it be cool if INSTEAD…a downtown lot, like what we are using right now, was turned into a Downtown Reno Arts Coalition like the Hayes Valley Art Coalition

photos: Mark Hammon http://www.truckeerivergallery.com/


Adaptations

The Black Rock Arts Foundation is proud to support the Hayes Valley Art Coalition in the installation of another public artwork on Patricia’s Green located at Octavia at Hayes Streets. This site-specific work ‘Adaptations’ by Mark Baugh-Sasaki will be constructed of welded steel and the limbs of trees trimmed and/or fallen in Golden Gate Park.

Patricia’s Green in Hayes Valley, San Francisco, CA, was the location of the Black Rock Arts Foundation’s first Civic Arts project, the Hayes Valley Temple in 2005. The Temple quickly became a beloved centerpiece of the neighborhood and drew people together and connected the community in a new and interactive way.

Since 2005, the Hayes Valley Art Coalition has continued to curate and install temporary artworks on Patricia’s Green.

Please join us for the opening reception for this wonderful new public work!

Friday, July 24, 2009
6:00pm
Patricia’s Green
Octavia at Hayes Street
San Francisco, CA

artists rendering: Andrew Klein


Green Dimensions at Fort Mason


We would like to give a shout out to the The Bandshell and the PARKcycle. There is an opening reception tonight at Fort Mason as part of Green Dimensions: An Exhibit Celebrating Bay Area Artists and Reclaimed Art Materials (until August 16); Pipeline : Art, Surfing, and the Ocean Environment at the SFMOMA Artists Gallery (until August 28); and the PARKcycle, an art project consisting of a 10-foot x 4-foot planted garden, mounted onto the front of three bicycles, planted by the San Francisco Community Garden, until September 18; and the Bandshell, all free to the public.

Reception
July 16, Thursday
5:30-7:30pm
FREE
(RSVP required for reception) – call (415) 345-7561 or email: contact @fortmason.org  (contact @fortmason.org)  
Fort Mason, San Francisco, Bldg D

Fort Mason asks “Since when does Fort Mason Center have an outdoor performance space?” The outdoor Bandshell — created from salvaged car hoods, recycled circuit boards, and reclaimed wood — is located on central campus. The Bandshell hosts improv, musical and circus performances, readings and meetings, lunch space, and impromptu public performances. If you are interested in reserving a time in the Bandshell: contact @fortmason.org  (contact @fortmason.org)  

The Bandshell, previously known as the Panhandle Bandshell was part of the Black Rock Arts Foundation Civic Arts Program, and the PARKcycle was a recipient of a grant through the Black Rock Arts Foundation’s Grants-to-Artists program. We are proud to have supported this public art that is continuing to promote art, community and civic participation.

PARKcycle photo: Photo: Sasha Wizansky
Bandshell photo: Melissa Alexander


ELECTRICITY!

Join us for the next in our series of Member events, Elemental Interactions: Electricity!

In 2008 we launched a new Member program, a series of quarterly events bringing together artists, scientists, social historians and others in our community to present demos, talks and performances in an informal, conversational setting.

Expounding upon our wildly successful Elemental Interactions series, we take our discussion of ‘The Elements’ even further. This year we dig deeper, broadening our definition of elements to include radical, new forms of media and exciting forces of nature that inspire and inform the work of artists in our community.

We’re happy to announce that our next event in our Elemental Interactions series, ‘Electricity’, will be held at the most appropriate location: PG&E;’s Pacific Energy Center!

We hope you’ll join us for another stimulating evening of demonstrations, lectures and performances by artists, scientists and social historians.

Come hear about how electricity in its many forms has inspired our community!

Thursday, July 23, 2009
Doors open at 5:30 pm
Mixer hour 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Presentations begin promptly at 7:00 pm, ending at 9:00 pm

Pacific Energy Center
851 Howard StreetSan Francisco, CA 94103
(click here for directions)
Members attend free, with a suggested donation of $10 for non-members.

To become a member, visit: blackrockarts.in-merch.com

More on our exciting guests:

Joe Olivier is the founder and principal of Facilatech, an engineering firm that specializes in energy conservation for large facilities. In joining the BRAF board, he is continuing his parents’ tradition of actively supporting the arts. Joe attended his first Burning Man in 2000, and has been one of the builders of the Man since 2002. He credits Burning Man with giving him the impetus to start Facilatech so that he would have the ability to take time off of work to volunteer for the organization. Joe holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Tulane University.

Filmmaker, new BRAF Advisory Board Member, Chris Paine is an environmentalist who moved to LA inexplicably sometime in the late 1980s.
Chris’ film Who Killed the Electric Car? premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006. The film screened around the world with Sony to become one of more successful documentaries of recent years.
Previously, Chris served as executive producer on “Faster” with Ewan McGregor about motorcycling’s fastest race, and “No Maps For These Territories” about cyberpunk author, William Gibson. Chris produced for the MTV series BUZZ and assisted writer/producer Michael Tolkin on the feature film, The Player. 10 minuntes of fame moments include The Daily Show, The Green and Fox and Friends.

In a prior life, Chris founded Internet Outfitters, one of the early players in web 1.0. The firm went public as AppNet in 1999. In 1989 his firm, Mondo-tronics, provided materials for the Mars Pathfinder mission.

This year Chris launched a green event home (http://marrakeshhouse.com/) and is in the midst of filming (http://revengeoftheelectriccar.com/).

Chris supports the Rainforest Action Network, IMPRO Theater, Black Rock Arts Foundation, the Wildlife Learning Center and Plug-In America. Chris studied film with Jon Else, acting with Sanford Meisner, and international relations at Colgate University and NYU.
Topic: How many lightbulbs does it take to plug in an electric car?


Artist and Musician, TradeMark G.

TradeMark Gunderson has a long history with music and electricity. Since 1986, his band The Evolution Control Committee has steadily gained a worldwide reputation as one of the most influential and leading mash-up bands by assembling samples and sounds into cut-and-paste masterpieces. They’ve also got a reputation for incredible live shows, featuring electronic music inventions like the one he’ll be showcasing here at Elemental Interactions. The VidiMasher 3000 is a rear-projected, infra-red, fake touch screen — hacked from Nintendo Wii controllers. It might just be the ultimate mashup music instrument.
TradeMark Gunderson is a musician and artist, best known as founder of the band The Evolution Control Committee in 1986. Besides dodging legal threats from CBS, he is also a culture jammer, hardware and software designer, and manager of Burning Man’s BMIR 94.5 FM radio station.

Thereminist, Robert Silverman

Robert Silverman has been an Electronic Musician for over 25 years. He studied classical piano for eight years as a teen, switching to electric keyboards, synthesizers, electric guitar, and finally Theremin as the year progressed. Mr. Silverman has been a member of numerous obscure music groups and collectives over the years, and has recently performed with such National acts as the Mermen. Currently, Mr. Silverman plays Theremin (an electronic instrument where music is made by moving one’s hands in the air) at many Bay Area Movie Theatres and Performance Spaces, featuring Ultra Lounge and Exotica music favorites.

PEC Director, Robert A. Marcial

Robert’s career in energy efficiency began in 1991 and includes serving as Sr. Program Engineer, and now Director, at the PEC, a building science researcher at U.C. Berkeley, and a lecturer and professor at various colleges and universities focusing on topics related to energy efficiency and integrated building design. Robert has a B.A. Architecture and a Master of Architecture from U.C. Berkeley.

Also at the event:

  • Advisory Board Member, Loren Carpenter’s Tesla Roadster, Electric Car #187 on display
  • Art by Alan Rory, PHD, almostscientific.com

From the Playa to the Runway – The Art of Burning Man



photos: West Studio
photo: Tom Price

Interested in seeing some fantastic art in the Reno Area? Well look no further than …
FROM PLAYA TO RUNWAY – THE ART OF BURNING MAN
Now Showing At The Reno – Tahoe International Airport
2nd floor –
CONCOURSE GALLERY (Between B and C Concourse …Open to the Public)
FROM JUNE 1 – SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Featuring 90 feet of amazing photos from 2000-2008.
Also included are 20 feet devoted to “Celtic Forest”, which is in downtown Reno from June 26-Dec. 1.

(Photographers: Mark Hammon, Ales Prikryl, Jaz Fabry, John Tucker, Matt Freedman, Douglas Hooper and Will Roger Peterson)
The opposite wall which is 20 feet long has BURNING MAN – The OTHER 51 Weeks of the Year featuring all of the non-profit “Outreach” groups. Burners Without Borders, the Black Rock Arts Foundation, Black Rock Solar, Earth Guardians, Friends of Black Rock High Rock AND Reno’s post-Burning Man Recycling Program Information for 2009.

Interactive Sculptures by Mangrove Artists: Spin ‘em by Kitty Gordon, and Book Stand by Dave Boyer, plus several plexi boxes loaded with ARTifacts artfully arranged by Crimson Rose.

Special thanks to the Reno Burners and Crimson who loaned a plethora of unique playa ARTifacts including a wedding display….
Curated by Maria Partridge, BRAF Advisory Board Member
For more info go to: http://braf-reno.ning.com/events/airport-show

Reno loves Celtic Forest: Book of the Raven

Tell us about Celtic Forest photo: Loren Carpenter

The Centaur photo: Wayneco
Controlled Burn, the Reno Fire Performers were fabulous photo: Bill Kositzky
And there was live music as well as a DJ later in the evening photo: Bill Kositzky
What a great crowd, and it only got larger as the evening progressed photo: Bill Kositzky
The Riverwalk is a beautiful setting for this art photo: Laura Kimpton
Treeables photo: Wayneco
The Book of Raven photo: Bill Kositzky
Artists Laura Kimpton and Jeff Schomberg (missing Bob Hoffman, Antonio Ruperto) photo: affinity
The people who made it happen: Crimson Rose and Maria Partridge photo: affinity
The Crew and the Artists photo: affinity

The Black Rock Arts Foundation (BRAF) was rocking on Friday night in Reno.

What a great opening celebration and fun time was had by all at the installation for Celtic Forest; Book of the Raven, which is part of BRAF’s Civic Arts Program, in downtown Reno. It is the first installation of its kind to have Flame Effects on a regular basis. The crowd loved the art, the fire, the community, the music both live and with a DJ. So many people have helped to bring this art to fruition and the Black Rock Arts Foundation could not have done it without their help. From the local burners, city officials, vendors that gave freely of their services, to the locals that came to appreciate the art & fire. One of the Black Rock Arts Foundation’s own Advisory Board members, Maria Partridge so totally rocked with her energy and creativity. Thank you Maria.

Here’s the link to the RGJ article Friday, June 26.
http://www.rgj.com/article/20090626/ENT/906260372

We also had a listing on the calendar page for the opening event. On the TV side we were told we had coverage on Ch 2 News @ 5pm and I believe Ch 4. showed some footage from the opening.
http://gotorenotahoe.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090626/ENT/906260372/1056

Crimson Rose

For photos from Bill Kositzky:
For photos from Anna Wright:

Laura Kimpton Hanging with Celtic Forest in Reno

Testing the fire photo: Crimson Rose

The Centaur Photo: Crimson Rose
Doesn’t get any higher than this
Celtic Forest: Book of the Raven waiting for its Opening Dedication this Friday
Laura Kimpton, artist, hangin’ with the Book of the Raven

To see more photos, as they are posted:


Electricity: Save the date, July 23

Join us for the next in our series of Member events, Elemental Interactions: Electricity!

Apologies for the postponement of our Member event scheduled for June, but it’s with good reason!

We’re happy to announce that our next event in our Elemental Interactions series, ‘Electricity’, will be held at the most appropriate location: PG&E;’s Pacific Energy Center! We hope you’ll join us for another stimulating evening of demonstrations, lectures and performances by artists, scientists and social historians. Come hear about how electricity in its many forms has inspired our community!

Thursday, July 23, 2009
6:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Pacific Energy Center
851 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
(visit http://tinyurl.com/kpput9 for directions)

Members attend free, with a suggested donation of $10 for non-members. To become a member, visit: http://blackrockarts.in-merch.com/

Stay tuned for more about our exciting guests!

Expounding upon our wildly successful Elemental Interactions series, we take our discussion of ‘The Elements’ even further. This year we dig deeper, broadening our definition of elements to include radical, new forms of media and exciting forces of nature that inspire and inform the work of artists in our community.


Installing Celtic Forest & The Book

Jeff Schomberg, artist and Crew boss – photo: Maria Partridge

Tray..the Fire Marshall approving the pipes…that will bring the propane to the art so it will be ON FIRE! photo: Maria Partridge
Installing the Book! photo: Maria Partridge
Working on the Centaur – Photo: Crimson Rose

Celtic Forest Installation Crew – photo: Crimson Rose
These are a few photos from the Installation of Celtic Forest: Book of the Raven in Reno Nevada last week. The opening reception is this Friday, read more about it here: