Category: Art news

My name is Cristina Sims, Camp SimWittEd, and my project is called “The Beat.”

What inspired me?

This installation is inspired by the authors that shaped my worldview as a young seeker. The ideas and items presented capture my fascination with the archetype of “the writer”. Sometimes lonely, usually tormented and always a voice that defies and challenges. I have created this desk as an alter to that romanticized figure in my mind. 

What do I hope people get out of the piece?

I want people to sit and explore; experience the vibe. There are stories to read and stories to tell. The typewriter awaits! Write a poem, have a smoke, read a passage and inspire the mind to know. There are gifts to find and mysteries to uncover all while the sweet sound of jazz fills the air.

What did I learn?

The installation became a voyeuristic experience for me and transformed my expectations about the what I had created. As I watched, the piece became less about the objects and arrangement and more about the grace of the lingering cigarette smoke, the way the lamp light glows on the curve of her neck, the sound of the keys clacking when a fevered idea goes onto paper and the items that were left behind as offerings. It came to life in a way that surpassed my intention and imagination. 

I would like to thank Nessa Reed for sewing the desk covering and my dear, sweet husband Jason for his unwavering support for all my endeavors. 

I would like to dedicate this installation to my mother, Martha, a well read woman.

*This piece is in need of support/help. For details, please see: https://www.burningflipside.com/art-project/wish

1.       What inspired you to create this art piece? 

The Winter Games closing ceremony in Korea.

2.       What do you hope people get out of your piece?

A sense of whimsy, an appreciation of nature, a visual kaleidoscopic experience.

3.       Are there any stories/lessons learned that came out of the creation of this piece?

There is never enough time to get things perfect, “Done is better than perfect.” ~CidKid

4. Is there anyone you’d like to thank or acknowledge? 

The Art grant crews for PDF and Transformus were pivotal in creating this piece, thanks!

1.       What inspired you to create this art piece? 

I wanted to “build a big one” ( it had been awhile). I don’t honestly know why a giraffe…I’ve joked that my recent trip to Japan inspired it (Japan…giraffes…yeah, right…). The one item that set the scale is a leg from a wood burning stove, that became the bridge of the nose.

2.       What do you hope people get out of your piece?

 A sense of fun! Inspiration to create something themselves.

3.       Are there any stories/lessons learned that came out of the creation of this piece?

 I’ve learned a lot of safety lessons over the years, working in metal. Eye protection, ear protection, leather gloves. Nothing loose around your neck, an angle grinder could strangle you if your scarf gets caught in it. Bandana, I value the little bit of hair I have and burning hair smells awful. Always with the heavy closed shoes, pant cuffs *over* the tops of the boots, never tucked in, etc. I do have a bad habit of working in short sleeves (it gets hot in a metal shop in Texas, yo)…got the scars on my arms to prove it. Overall this was an enjoyable, comfortably paced work. The most annoying part was rethinking an aspect that was a PITA to change after the fact, it would have been so easy to do before it got “caged in” by the skinning.

4. Is there anyone you’d like to thank or acknowledge? 

My mother, for birthing me. In all seriousness, I work alone. I love incorporating bits from other people’s art, so a special shout out is due to Prost for supplying the hinges, they were part of his Calavera project that went to TTITD in 2014 (it’s taken me awhile to figure out how I wanted to use them). There will be immense gratitude for whomever helps me get this 7.5’ tall heavy af piece out of the shop and onto the trailer! 

1.       What inspired you to create this art piece?

Last year Unbroken Spring, the Houston regional burn, was offering art grants and the art lead encouraged me to apply because they were familiar with some of my origami work and knew i had ideas about translating it into large scale sculpture. Lines of Flight was my first attempt at playing with scale using the form of an origami dove, chosen for both its aesthetic grace, simplicity, and reproduction ease.

2.       What do you hope people get out of your piece?

I hope people enjoy the simplicity and elegance of the form. That it acts as a way to guide them when they need it, whether it be to a place of respite in our dome some night or back to the playa and the people. 

3.       Are there any stories/lessons learned that came out of the creation of this piece?

I’m a designer/ artist/ craftsperson and i wanted to make art for the burn for awhile, but i was also a camp lead and compulsive volunteer, so it never happened. Lots of folks from the community have seen my various work on my Instagram(RatEatCat) and started asking if i ever intended to bring art to a burn. Those questions made me reevaluate my priorities and helped give me the push i needed to make something that i could share. Making time for art is deeply satisfying and a totally worthwhile way of giving back to the community. 

4. Is there anyone you’d like to thank or acknowledge?

I’d like to thank my camp lead for registering my art because i totally forgot to. I’d also like to thank everyone who encouraged me or said they enjoyed the work – it’s satisfying to make it for it’s own sake, but knowing that people enjoyed them is hugely motivating.

The Forge of Hephaestus draws inspiration from a lot of places, but primarily from the allegorically dense theme of the burn this year, Sisyphean Celebration. Greek mythology is really rich with ideas and characters, many of which Sisyphus interacted with in one way or another. We chose Hephaestus, the god of Fire (sculpture, metalworking, masonry, and forges) because he was a patron of the arts and a bit of an odd duck. Of all the Greek pantheon, Hephaestus and Dionysus (wine, fertility, ‘ritual madness’) would perhaps have appreciated Flipside the most!

The Forge is constructed out of more than 2000lbs of white limestone, a building material favored by the ancient Greeks. In order to design, build, and moop the Forge we will be hauling all this stone at least six times, quite a Sisyphean task! Hopefully, unlike Sisyphus, we will reach our goal.

Our goal is for participants to feel they have been transported into Greek myth. Electricity (lightning) and fire are some of the origins of ancient stories of magic and divine power, and for many in the modern era electricity still has a mysterious and magical quality. By hiding a very high voltage device inside our limestone forge, and by building our enclosing structure using appropriate Grecian architectural elements, we hope to create an environment and atmosphere that feels authentically ancient Mediterranean, The structure itself will appear to be burned and blasted from within, giving participants a chance to feel they are wielding a mythical and extraordinary power.

Each participant will wield enormous limestone hammers and manipulate hidden stone dials on the Forge to blast a wooden artifact with fire and lightning. When the smoke clears they will have a powerful token of the favor of the gods to take home with them.

We have just started construction but we have already learned a lot about limestone. Its an incredibly malleable material (and cheap!), quite easy to drill and cut for LED and electrical channels. We’ve also learned that its quite a pain to move even a very short distance without heavy equipment! So we can see why the Greeks loved to use it, the only downside is you need an army of laborers to get anything done!

I’d like to thank our growing team of artists and volunteers (which anyone is welcome to join) who are going to help us realize this dream. We would also like to thank Ignition Philter for partially funding the project with an art grant, and our future donors for helping us get across the finish line.
If you would like to donate to the project, check out our fundraising page here. If you would like to help us with wood, stone, fabrics, painting, blowtorching or anything else, please email me at duncan.anderson44@gmail.com

The Glitter box (formerly the light box) was featured for several years at LumiNation. Visiting the luminarium structure inspired the light box.  Initially, and for a few years, the lights were white blinky string lights with rows of CD’s behind them and refractive glasses for added effect.  It’s a small, mellow space where people can transcend the mud and craziness and experience a moment of wonder, encircled by light. Last year, we added a super sparkly floor, and modified the lights to programmable led’s. Hopefully people will get the same joy out of it that they’ve gotten in the past, but even more sparkletastical!

Lesson learned: The extra effort you put in before the event to make the piece easier to set up and tear down is well worth it. Spending hours putting your art piece together on-site (and getting dehydrated in the process) is not a great way to start your Burn.

Welcome to the 3rd annual Flipside Art Spotlight blog series! These are designed to bring some well-deserved attention to a pretty dang important part of our community and event: ART and the badass talents that create them! Flipside without the art would be a bunch of bored people in a field.

These will be posted every few days in the order received until the event. If you are an artist and would like to participate (and did not receive initial interview questions [check your spam folder,] please ping me at seacircle@gmail.com. Thank you, thank you for all your passion, ambition, love and sweat!

*This piece is in need of support/help. For details, please see https://www.burningflipside.com/art-project/big-top-mountain

1. What inspired you to create this art piece?

It came down to the Theme. I truly believe that the Theme for a burn is essential and matters way more than some do. It legitimately inspired this piece. A “Sisyphean Celebration” put me in the mind set of “unwinnable/unattainable” goals But also a fun aspect of it. My mind immediately thought, Carnival games. Truly unwinnable. Well, where do you have carnival games? A big top tent. The ball kept rolling in my head to the point of having a ramp along side of it and a “Sisyphus” rolling a ball up he ramp and before it burns, the ball rolls back down and the whole thing catches fire. That image was stuck in my head. I want to see that.  So i got to work figuring out if it was possible. I really wanted to be able to submit the full scale for the big effigy however, my work schedule during the run up for Flipside precludes me from doing much other than work. So i took the time and one non burner friend and scaled the whole model down and thats what i hope to see burn at Flipside.

2. What do you hope people get out of your piece?

Im an idiot with  0 build experience, and skill. I hope that people can take away that they potentially can build and bring art to Flipside. Id like people to rethink how they feel about the importance of a theme. This project would not have been dreamt of with out it. Id like to see smiles and stupid joy over this dumb thing and i hope they would like to join me with burning it. I also hope that i dont have to keep explaining what it is, but maybe i dont mind it that much.

3. Lessons Learned

Math is hard, Octagons are full of math. In reality, I think one of the big lessons i got was to trust the vision and you can do it. I had to get this thing done before Christmas this past year. Proper planning helped, reasonable goes and im excited for the potential that the thing i saw in my head is very close to a reality. And If i can do it, others can.

4. Acknowledgements

I could not have done this without my non burner friend Brian and his Wife Cheryl for letting me use their garage for 6 straight weekends. Their help was invaluable to me and i really hope they get to come out this year. Bo & Carol Reynolds for always encouraging me when i came to them with art projects. Kaleb Allen for his insight into builds and his encouragement, even if i couldn’t do a full effigy proposal, he still said i should build it anyway and bring it.

Art Registration

Art Registration is now open! Make sure to register your art if you need something placed that has a flame effect, you’re bringing an art you were hoping to burn, you need placement, or if you were just looking to have your fabulous art on the Burning Flipside map. Make sure you are logged in before you start trying to register your piece.

If you were looking for extra logistics help, need a brain to pick, send a message to artlogistics@burningflipside.com

Art registration will close at 11:59pm CST April 1st (no joke!) so get that registration in!

Registration for Mutants and Motorized Art (Art Cars!) and Events is open and will remain open until May 17th.

Resources for Flipside Bound Art

Making art isn’t easy…unless easy is your art, in which case, good on you for embracing that loophole! Here are some resources to help you bring that special piece you were looking forward to share…

Grants- Ignition Philter

The community run organization Ignition Philter is taking applications for grants for Burning Flipside bound art projects for 2019. The application is currently open and will close March 4th.

If you are interested, check out the 16 art projects that received funding in 2018 https://ignitionphilter.com/grant-winners/

Art Projects Seeking Support Page

Check out the Art Projects Seeking Support Page. It’s basically a community bulletin board where artists can ask for assistance making their art project go. You might be looking to share a brain with someone with specific expertise on whatever topic. Perhaps you could use some additional hands on your build. Maybe a little more money would turn this dream into a reality- it’s a good place to share your crowd source link and make a case for community support.

Lloyd The Warehouse

Good ole Lloyd here has housed some pretty epic art pieces over the years. If you were hoping for space to make a thing or to have the use of some tools, reach out to the Warehouse Managers at warehouse@burningflipside.com

Don’t know about the community driven Lloyd? Tragedy. Let’s fix that. https://www.burningflipside.com/24-7-360/warehouse

Come out on Wednesday evenings 7-10pm for Church Night to meet other participants, check out DaFT’s progress with the effigy (and maybe grab an impact driver and make magic happen! Email daft@burningflipside.com to volunteer- no previous build skills required!) or come some Thursday evening for Art Nights At Lloyd, a community run group where the focus is less social and more arting at each other. For dates, check the calendar https://www.burningflipside.com/24-7-360

For other art related questions, feel free to email art@burningflipside.com

Happy Arting!

A Little About Ignition Philter

Ignition Philter (the independent art grant organization) had a fantastic first year at Burning Flipside.  There were puppets and pay phones and blinkies and music and fire, oh my! We had 32 applications and were able to give away money for 16 pieces. For a refresher of whose art you helped pay for, see the list of last year’s winners: https://ignitionphilter.com/grant-winners/

Looking Forward

2019 is coming and we’re ready to not be freshpeople.  We learned a few things and are ready to go bigger and weirder next year.  In addition to funding more projects, we have plans to work towards being a 501c3 when the 2020 Flipside comes around.

Plans for 2019

This coming year, we will again be awarding grants of up to $575 per project.  We will be opening applications for the 2019 grant cycle February 4th.  Our jury will meet at the end of February to pick our winners. But all of this needs you, our dear reader, to help.

How Can You Help?

Art Grant Jury

Come be a judge to help us pick our winners!  If you’re interested in helping find us at Spring Town Hall February 2nd 2019 at Lloyd the Warehouse or email ignitionphilter@gmail.com

Donate When Submitting Your Ticket Request

When you purchase your Burning Flipside ticket, please add an additional donation to Ignition Philter.

Apply For Art Grants

Submit an art project for the grant.  We fund small and large projects.  Try your hand at making your dream a reality!  Keep an eye on the timeline page for the link to the application on February 24th. https://ignitionphilter.com/timeline/

Donate Direct

You can also donate to Ignition Philter outside of the tickets. Contact us to find out how https://ignitionphilter.com

More Money, More Art! 

-By XTC Representing Ignition Philter