June 16th marked the opening dedication of both Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito’s sculpture, ‘Passage’, and the newly rennovated breakwater which is now a public access pier — Pier 14 allows residents and visitors to San Francisco to walk some 637 feet out into the bay for 360 degrees of stunning views. Without the hard work, bood, sweat, and heart of everyone involved this installation could not have happened. Thanks to all! And congratulations to Dan and Karen, who celebrate both their first wedding anniversary and the first birthday of ‘Passage’ this weekend!

When ‘Passage’ was originally installed at Burning Man 2005, Event Founder, Larry Harvey, asked Artist, Dan Das Mann, why the mother and child sculptures were pointed toward the open playa and decidedly away from ‘the Man’, the effigy which is the namesake of the event. To which Dan replied that the sculptures were leaving Black Rock City, heading out to live their lives in the great big world beyond.

On June 16th the mother and child duo arrived, as if from the sea, on the San Francisco Waterfront!

To mark this momentous occasion, an SF fire boat, like a jubiliant whale, spouts water….

as residents and visitors to San Francisco take the first pubic walk on the newly dedicated Pier 14!

A crew of incredibly dedicated volunteers has been working (literally) day and night to complete the installation of ‘Passage’ on the SF Waterfront at Mission & Embarcadero. A huge thanks to the cast and crew who have made this feat possible!

Welders Phil and Steve, working on the base of the child figure.

Artist Karen Cusolito and key play Steve 23 consult over the mother’s foot.

Rockstar Carpenters Monkey Boy and Brandon knock out the plinth base.

Work is still underway, but a familliar contour is starting to take shape.

The sculpture will open in conjunction with new public access pier (Pier 14) THIS FRIDAY, June 16th, on where Mission St. meets Embarcadero! An 11 a.m. Press Event (open to the public) will inaugurate the site and dedicate the new pier, a former breakwater. At 6 p.m. a Community Dedication with the artists will be followed by a No-Host Bar Reception at nearby Sinbad’s. Pirate attire is, of course, optional!

YAAAR! See you there!

The installation of ‘Passage’ has begun on the San Francisco Waterfront — Embarcadero at Pier 14

Passage Site

Mother Figure

Artists Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito
gaining some perspective as one of the Mother’s arms is attached.

Mother’s arm deftly attached by core crew member Steve 23!

That’s right! Dan das Mann and Karen Cusolito’s monolithic mother and child sculpture, originally created for last year’s Burning Man event, ‘Passage’, has arrived in the East Bay where it is being re-furbished in preparation for temporary six month installation on the San Francisco Waterfront. The exhibition is part of a continuing model put forth by the Black Rock Arts Foundation to install temporary artworks throughout the city. The model hinged on the success of the the temple built last June in Hayes Green by David Best and the Temple Crew, and continued with an initative to bring five works of art originally created for, and debuted at, the Burning Man event between 2001 and 2005.

‘Passage’ will be installed on the Embarcadero (at Mission) during the second and third weeks of June. The piece will open in concert with the the opening of Pier 14, an old breakwater that has been transformed into a public access pier, on June 16th!

Join us at 6:00 p.m. for a public dedication before we walk over to Sinbad’s for a no host reception from 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm to celebrate!

Pictured here is the headless child being prepared by Goat Man Dan for installation.

This past weekend at the Maker’s Faire was, by all accounts, amazing. The faire itself was a phenomenal success with makers, crafters, and exhibitors from all walks: from Legos, to living mushroom sculptures, to sock creatures, to robotics, to you name it. Present were an amazing and engaged group of people that came together to produce and attend the faire. It was a competent and captive audience ready and willing to live life a little differently than the mainstream — and ready and willing to do whatever it takes to enact and support that change — how very refreshing!

From a sea of ‘I heart Nerds’ t-shirts and ‘GeekSquad’ men in black came inquisitive folks who were curious about what we were doing, already knew what we were up to and wanted to help, and folks with time or resources to donate. It was an amazing out pouring of support from everyone who asked us questions, to the dedicated volunteers who helped us spread the good word of our mission. Many thanks to everyone involved!

P.S. In a room full of geeks, these ladies had no trouble garnering a little support for the Black Rock Arts Foundation

Get in bed with
Burning Man founder
Larry Harvey… literally
then
FLIP YOUR LID!
Let Art Go to Your Head!
A Benefit for the Black Rock Arts Foundation
Thursday, April 27th, 2006

A fund raising event to bring the art and spirit of Burning Man to our communities
FLIP YOUR LID! will be at the supperclub sanfrancisco, a restaurant featuring dining in bed.
Dinner will be served to guests while eclectic performers entertain. Your opportunity now exists to
literally get in bed with Larry Harvey and the senior staff and several artists from Burning Man who
will each host one of the beds.

Guests are encouraged to flip their lids by wearing their own creative chapeaux for the evening to
complement two dozen hats created by artists. The artistic hats will be modeled for auction throughout
dinner that will culminate with a heady lineup of DJs cooking up dessert on the dance floor. The after
dinner dancing and entertainment is an option to support the Foundation if you do not want to dine in bed.

The Black Rock Arts Foundation was created by the founders of Burning Man to support and export the
art and culture of the annual event held in the Nevada desert. During the past year, monumental art works
by David Best and Michael Christian have been temporarily installed in San Francisco at Hayes Green
and Civic Center Plaza. A third work, the 45 foot tall steel sculpture titled “Passage” by Dan Das Mann
and Karen Cusolito is in the process of installation at Pier 14 on the Embarcadero.

Here is your chance to climb in bed and share a bottle of bubbly with one of these creative characters:
Burning Man founder Larry Harvey, Danger Ranger, LadyBee, Maid Marian Goodell, Harley K. DuBois,
Crimson Rose & Will Roger, actiongrl Andie Grace, artists David Best, Chicken John, or Dicky of Dicky
Box. With which one you ask? It’s a game of chance as names will be drawn at random from a hat!

Event Details and Ticket Information:
Thursday, April 27th at the supperclub, 657 Harrison Street, San Francisco.
Tickets are available online at: www.donatetoblackrockarts.org
For more information, visit the web address or call 415.626.1248
Black Rock Arts Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit.
Tickets (with a value over $60) are tax-deductible.

LET ART GO TO YOUR HEAD! A benefit for the Black Rock Arts Foundation.

That’s right, a benefit. We are working hard to raise funds to support both our 2006 Nationwide Grant Cycle, and the installation of Dan Dasmann and Karen Cusolito’s piece, ‘Passage,’ on the San Francisco Waterfront, and you can help!

The supperclub san francisco, one of SOMA’s newest and most singular night spots, has graciously donated their incredible space for an unforgettable evening full of fine food, drink, and performance to benefit BRAF. It’s gonna be good. A whole host of local artists and designers have offered to create an assortment of ‘art hats’ for auction at the event — some names you might recognize? Michael Christian? Dicky of Dicky Box Fame? And you’ll have the chance to bed down with the likes of Larry Harvey, Maid Marian Goodell, Ever Heady Harley K DuBois, Actiongrl Andie Grace, Naked Fire Goddess Crimson Rose, Will ‘Mr. Klean’ Roger, Burning Man Art Curator Lady Bee, Artist David Best, and more!

The ticket prices are tiered. And yes, some of them are expensive, because (cold hard truth) we are trying to raise money!

1) The evening begins with a delightful, intimate, well-heeled cocktail hour in the Bar Rouge.
2) As guests arrive we’ll move to the Salle Neige where folks will bed down and get comfortable as a 5 course dinner is served, the duration of which will be peppered with modeled hats on auction and entertainment hosted by $teven Ra$pa, featuring: Janine Fondiller of Xeno, Soprano Marisa Lenhardt, Ouchy the Clown of the Porn Clown Posse, and an extraordinary array of amazing aerialists, thrilling performers and magnificent musicians.
3) Once the auction closes we’ll get the dance floor moving at 11:00 p.m. with some of your favorite Black Rock City DJs, including Michael Anthony & The Late Night Sneaky, Laird (Get Yer Freak On!), Alibi (House of Lotus), Smoove (Space Cowboys & News Breaks) and Syd Gris (Opel/Opulent Temple).

Tickets range in price from $250 – $30 and we hope we have found a little something for eveyone in this line up!
So, find a fine frock, put a hat on your head, and join us! April 27th at the supperclub san fancisco at 657 Harrison Street.

Tickets are going like hotcakes! Tickets and venue space are sure to sell out! Get yours now!
Visit: http://www.donatetoblackrockarts.org/flyolifuap27.html

THIS JUST IN! One of our 2005 granted projects, SWAP-O-RAMA-RAMA, will be featured at the Maker’s Faire!

Swap-o-rama-rama addresses America’s endless quest for “more” and “new,” as spurred on by the fashion industry’s commodification of individual image through the imposition of spending brackets and prescribed choices. Through a collaborative process Swap-o-rama-rama participants will be invited to essentially re-design and re-brand already existing clothing. The do-it-yourself process will encourage the individuality and creativity that was once innate in clothing design and manufacture before the craft became subsumed by industry and the machine.

The Swap-o-rama-rama craze was spawned by Wendy Tremayne in New York City, where it met with amazing success. Hundreds of participants showed up for the swaps, thousands of pounds of clothing were transformed into wearable works of art (while simultaneously being diverted from the waste stream), and all the leftover vestments were donated to local women’s shelters.

Swap-o-rama-rama is now not only in 11 cities nationwide, but is embarking on a new program to teach the just-off-the-street-families in these shelters how to turn leftover garments into quilted blankets for their new home off the streets. Then just before these families move on, they will have the opportunity to make a blanket for the family taking their place in the shelter — a first chance to give!

For more information on what to expect, what to bring, and how YOU can PARTICIPATE, check out the Swap-o-rama-rama website at: http://www.swaporamarama.org/makerfaire.htm

Tired of mass produced plastic crap? Got a DIY attitude? Join the Black Rock Arts Foundation, the creators of MAKE magazine, the MythBusters, and a whole host of other Do-It-Yourself enthusiasts for the first ever Maker’s Faire, April 22nd-23rd in San Mateo, CA.

Come meet, greet and learn from all kinds of people who make all sorts of amazing things in their own backyars, garages, basements, vacant lots, or wherever else space permits. Families, students and teachers of all ages, folks who want to stop buying and start making, are all encouraged to come!

BRAF will be talking to folks about, among other things, our upcoming ‘Recycled Art Garden’ — a city wide initiative to encourage people to reuse and recycle through the creation and exhibition of art made entirely from recycled, reused, or repurposed materials. Stay tuned for more information on this incredible project… Or better yet, stop by and see us at the Maker’s Faire!

Check it out! http://makezine.com/faire/

Benefit the Black Rock Arts Foundation and…

Join us for a sneak preview of Mike Wilson’s, “The Temple Builder,” on Wednesday, April 19th 2006 at the historic Victoria Theater in San Francisco’s Mission District. The Santa Cruz Film Festival, the Film Arts Foundation, and the Black Rock Arts Foundation will co-present a screening of “The Temple Builder” and “Beyond Black Rock” on April 19th. For those who haven’t had a chance to check out “Beyond Black Rock”, this is a great opportunity to catch it in a fully immersive theatrical venue… Plus, be the very first to check out Gone Off Deep/Purple Productions’ “The Temple Builder”. Producer Mike Wilson will be in attendance.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 19th
WHERE: Victoria Theater, SF / 2961 16th Street, San Francisco
WHAT: 7:00 PM “Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock” Screening & 9:30 PM Special Sneak Preview of “The Temple Builder”

* TICKETS $12 for either film OR $20 DOUBLE FEATURE! *

For more information please visit: http://www.bmbraf.local/templebuilder.html

The creation of Ignition NW was spawned over the last several years as some of the 3,000 people from the Pacific Northwest who attend Burning Man each year have come together and developed a thriving, year-round arts community. Ignition NW
was formed over a series of conversations which looked at what the needs and desires of the community were, and what vehicle would best carry them out. Only recently has the group galvanized to form this hot-off-the-presses non-profit which has a board of eleven members that were elected in August 2005, and approximately 230 voting members to date.

Invited, in part, by Randy Engstrom, President of the Board and Executive Director of the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, a contingency of BRAF minded folks from California and Michigan attended Ignition NW’s most recent Town Hall Meeting, held this past Monday, March 27th. Having just been called to order the meeting hall quickly went silent in acknowledgement of the 7 young people killed on Capitol Hill over the weekend. Grief counseling materials were made available to all, as at least one of the victims was a ‘burner’ and others had ties to the community.

As some 300 wet eyes were wiped dry the meeting continued with a presentation of what the Black Rock Arts Foundation has been doing. The presentation culminated with few words by artist and BRAF board member, David Best. David consoled the community while simultaneously inspiring them to act now, and to build a monument, a temple, a public memorial to the 8 young lives lost. He used examples from his experience building temples for the Burning Man event. He talked about the importance of moving through one’s grief, yet not letting go of memory — of working and weeping.

By meetings end a group had come together that was committed to building a temple to those lost on Capitol Hill — a fundraiser date had been set (Saturday, April 1st), and at least $638.00 had been raised. Since then, the group has been working with David Best and the City of Seattle to confirm a design and a site for the temple; local construction companies have reportedly been offering their resources and services in support of the build. This is truly an incomparable group of people working to both heal, and better, their own community. Seattle, I salute you.

For more information on Ignition NW, including details on the projected temple build, please visit:
http://www.ignitionnw.org/

There are also a couple paypal accounts set up-
1) For the survivors and family: 2112relief@gmail
2) For the temple project: 2112templefund@gmail

As our tour of this non-stop-coffee-riddled town continued we found ourselves in the halls of the newly completed Youngstown Cultural Arts Center — an accessible, multicultural, affordable arts center which will annually serve about 75,000 people. A renovated school building, this four story building dates back to 1917 and houses 3 stories of artist live/work space (with rents based on the median income of the tenant!) on top of a ground floor chock full of facilities — from a 150-seat theater, to a media lab, recording studio, workshop, movement studio, dressing rooms, kitchen, and classrooms — all of which are available for rental to the public at exceedingly affordable rates! The space has already been used to, among other things, host a youth poetry slam which created a safe place for youth of widely varying backgrounds to make themselves vulnerable as they spoke eloquently about issues close to their hearts, homes, and realities.

To find out more about the renovation that transformed the Cooper School into the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, visit:
http://www.onecommunitycampaign.org/projects/cooper/index.html

And form information on the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center as its current incarnation visit:
http://www.youngstownarts.org/