We had a great time meeting some of you at San Francisco Decompression. We got to talk about our Grants to Artists Program, our upcoming ARTumnal Gathering, and whatever you wanted to know about the Black Rock Arts Foundation.

Thanks for coming by, it was good to see you!

http://blackrockarts.blogspot.com/2008/10/san-francisco-decompression-this-sunday.html

Our very own Maria Partridge manned the Mangrove/Black Rock Arts Foundation booth at Reno Decompression this weekend. It looks like even the little ones had a great time.

Spider Ball is an annual fundraising Halloween extravaganza hosted in tandem by the Bently Reserve and Playa Love, a Burning Man camp dedicated to promoting local organizations and communities both on the playa and at home. The historic Bently Reserve in San Francisco hosts this Halloween celebration, mixing an underground approach of decadence with the elegance and style of this amazing venue to create a party that is all freak and funk. The proceeds from this year’s Spider Ball will benefit BRAF and giveback.net. Europe’s Freq Nasty headlines a new host of entertainment and freak show delights! October 31st. Click here to buy tickets.

Join Us!
Join us in support of the Black Rock Arts Foundation’s mission to inspire art, community and civic participation worldwide. Revel in the richness of human expression, generosity of spirit and camaraderie of artists and visionaries.

You are invited to our ARTumnal Gathering, an opulent gathering of tribes in celebration of our artistic treasures and vital community spirit! Partake in an evening of abundant visual delights, auditory pleasures, delectable fare, beguiling libations, and a cornucopia of spectacular people and performances.
Saturday,
November 22, 2008
The Bently Reserve
400 Sansome St.
San Francisco, CA 94111

Performances By
Laird
Clark Hamon (Deep End)
Majitope (Symbiosis/Lowpro)
Dragn’fly
Tamo (Angels of bAss)
Copper Lantern Fire Theater
Vau De Vire Society
Loyd Family Players
… and very special guest performers

For more information or to buy tickets:
http://www.bmbraf.local/events/artumnal

artwork by Andrew Jones

Photos from the 2007 ARTumnal Gathering:

To see more photos:
http://www.photosbycameragirl.com/artumnal/gathering4.html
http://furtographer.smugmug.com/gallery/3884528_uyTiB
photos Heather Gallagher (CameraGirl)

Visitors dropping by the Black Rock Arts Foundation booth at Decompression 2007

Sundays have brought Music to the Mangrove. On a beautiful Fall day, October 5, we had World Grooves by DJSource (of Ecstatic Dance Reno) Steve Bollinger played music from all over the world; Brazilian Jazz, African Drum Rhythms, Celtic Flute, happy Caribbean tunes, Indian Pop, Middle Eastern grooves, and more. The concert featured a huge variety of sounds from indigenous to modern, from acoustic to electric, pop, jazz, R&B;, rock, native chants and songs and expressed the joy of music from every corner of the globe. Burners brought a level of high energy to the Mangrove with hula hooping, dancing and spinning. Reno participants joined in and/or enjoyed the performances!

Reported by Maria Partridge

“Off-Leash Art” a Film by Tomas McCabe Osha Neumann & Jason DeAntonis

Shawn, Josie, Kelly and Kevin. Kevin is gifting Kelly a new and improved compost bin from Europe. It allows the air to flow more freely.

“Earth” was a huge hit last week. Larry Harvery opened the evening by telling us how earth helped manifest some of the earliest art at Burning Man.

Andrew Johnstone told us about Burning Man Earth, where the development of the project is going and how participants at Burning Man are going to provide data to populate the project using a “wiki” approach. “A wiki is a page or collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content…”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

And then Kevin Drew and Shawn Rosenmoss from the San Francisco Department of the Environment told us about the state of recycling, what we could do to make a difference and where “waste” is going in the future. There were lots of questions from the audience and I know I learned a lot and am recommitting to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Then Osha Neumann spoke regarding the impact that being an attorney for the homeless and an artist using Albany landfill materials has made on his life. Then we saw the fabulous short film above from Osha, our very own interim managing director, Tomas McCabe and Jason DeAntonius.

It was an inspiring evening and we hope you will be able to join us next time.

World Grooves by DJSource (of Ecstatic Dance Reno)

• Sunday, October 5 from 2-5pm in the Mangrove
• Mangrove park at Sierra St and the Truckee River, south of the river between Virginia and Sierra, next to Dreamers

Enjoy music from all over the world. Brazilian Jazz, African Drum Rhythms,Celtic Flute, happy Caribbean tunes, Indian Pop Middle Eastern grooves, etc. This concert will be a huge variety of sounds from indigenous tomodern, from acoustic to electric, pop, jazz, R&B;, rock, native chants and songs, anything that expresses the joy of music of many different cultures from every corner of the globe.

Sit and listen to the tunes or move to the groove. Location is. This is atemporary park in an empty lot filled with Burning Man sculptures. This space is created by the efforts of the Black Rock Arts Foundation Civic Arts program.

Please come and enjoy with us.

http://www.bmbraf.local/projects/mangrove/mangrove

other blogs on this subject:
http://blackrockarts.blogspot.com/2008/09/music-in-mangrove.html

photo Maria Partridge

Don’t miss the third event in our new lecture series, Elemental Interactions. In appreciation of our members and donors, we’ve designed these informal evenings to explore topics of art, science and civic participation. Enjoy demos, talks and performances at the eclectic Burning Man headquarters. Our first events, FIRE! and AIR!, were incredibly enjoyable evenings for all, full of captivating speakers and entertaining demonstrations, as well as opportunities to meet and connect with our members and donors. Join us for Elemental Interactions: EARTH!
Thursday,
October 2, at 6:30 pm
Burning Man/BRAF Headquarters
1900 3rd StreetSan Francisco, Ca 94158

And if you cannot attend, jjoin us on the webcast!
Click this link:
http://tinyurl.com/4j5kvq

Elemental Interactions: EARTH! will explore the qualities of the earth as inspiration for art and action.
The event will feature these exciting guests:

Hosted by Larry Harvey
In 1986, Larry organized the first Burning Man at a local beach, and the event was born. Larry is currently executive director of the Burning Man Project and the President of the Board of the Black Rock Arts Foundation. He also serves as chairman of Burning Man’s senior staff and Black Rock City LLC, its executive committee, co-chairs the organization’s Art Department, scripts and co-curates Burning Man’s annual art theme, and collaborates with artists in creating aspects of the art theme and the design of Black Rock City.

Screen shot from Burning Man Earth

Artist and Burning Man Earth Developer, Andrew Johnstone, http://www.adjohnstone.com/ At Burning Man, we strive to ‘leave no trace” upon the playa, but when it comes to leaving our historical record, we owe history an accurate record as possible of the event that has come to mean so much to us. Burning Man Earth will attempt to archive the event “in amber” by employing a banquet of various geo tagged media and information, from maps, photos and video, to exotics such as gigapan, gps tracks, 3d models, hi res aerial and even soundscapes. It can further be employed as a framework to a geo referenced social network and participant planning tool.

Kevin Drew and Shawn Rosenmoss, Compost Gurus from the San Francisco Department of the Environment.

Kevin Drew has been working in resource conservation and community organizing in SF for 3 decades. He helped start the Red Vic Movie House, Building Resources and the Presidio Recycling Center, managed HANC Recycling in Golden Gate Park and coordinated the deconstruction and salvage of 200,000 board feet of old growth lumber from Army buildings at Crissy Field in the Presidio. He is currently Residential and Special Projects Zero Waste Coordinator at San Francisco’s Department of Environment.

Shawn Rosenmoss has a degree in engineering from LSU and has extensive background in circus arts, engineering, street performance and grant writing and making. She has displayed her peculiar brand of snarky attitude and waxes pedantic at numerous workplaces, cafes, schools and public spaces in San Francisco for 2 dozen years. Shawn is currently Manager of Grants and Fundraising at the EcoCenter at the San Francisco’s Department of Environment.

The SF Department of the Environment is a major funder of BRAF’s Scrapeden program.

Sculpture by Osha Neumann
Attorney and Artist, Osha Neumann
Osha Neumann is a sculptor, muralist, writer and a lawyer. In the 1960’s, Osha was a key player in the New York’s famous anarchist affinity group, ‘Up Against the Wall Motherf**kers’. His memoir of this time of his life, ‘Up Against the Wall otherf**ker’ was published by Seven Story Press.Later he moved to San Francisco was inspired by the city’s many murals. Osha painted murals practiced law in the East Bay for the next 30 years. He became well-known for his ‘Lawyer in a Box’ booth at Berkeley’s weekly Ashby Flea Market, where he offers very cheap 30 minute consultations.He focused much of his legal work on advocating for the homeless, and through the representation of one of his clients, Jimbow the Hobo, he became acquainted with the many residents of the Albany Landfill, or ‘The Bulb’, where Jimbow lived for 8 years before he faced eviction. Over the years the Albany Landfill, essentially a dump, has become the home of many who cannot or choose not to live in traditional housing. The land has also transformed into a haven for artists, as well as into a venue for their artwork, who use found-object and reclaimed materials in their art. Since 1999, Osha has worked alongside the ‘SNIFF’ artists, a collective responsible for much of the art at the Bulb, in the creation of numerous sculptures using only materials he’s found at the landfill. Osha has written numerous articles about the landfill, its art, and the continuing struggle to shape its future.

BRAF members and donors come for free! We want to meet you again and show our appreciation for your support. Stay tuned for our next Elemental Interaction in February: WATER!Feel free to spread the word as anyone is welcome to attend. A donation of $10.00 is suggested for non-members.

If you know anyone who wants to become a BRAF member, this is a great opportunity to make this event the first of many enjoyable benefits. Please ask them to contact info @blackrockarts.org  (info @blackrockarts.org)  , call (415) 626-1248, or visit Memberships at BRAF for details about joining our community.