Category: Art news

Art Cars 101 For the Mutant Vehicle Curious

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photo provided by stephy

Soooo…thinkin’ about building an art car? Already have a full fleet of fabulous and want to share your brain with other passionate folk? Mutant Vehicle curious, and would love to lend a hand on someone else’s project? Just lookin’ to learn a little more about mobile art? This event is for you, no matter your level of skill- all we need is your enthusiasm.
The fabulous Kaleb will be leading a little talk and Q&A to get us started. We’ll also talk about what “makes” an art car and/or mutant vehicle, guidelines for use at Flipside, and why that string of rope lights on your Jeep just might not be cutting it.
If you would like to share something with the group, let us know! Sharing brains is sexy.   We’ve got the conference room at the warehouse reserved from 7pm-8pm Wednesday February 21st. Haven’t visited Lloyd the Warehouse? The address is 3106 Industrial Terrace, Austin, TX 78758.
Please RSVP on the Facebook Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1226653564133883/
BYOB, come talk art and as always, don’t forget, everything at Lloyd is a Leave No Trace event.
See you soon!

Art Project Resources

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photo provided by stephy

Making art can be hard- doing it all on your own sometimes proves impossible. We understand that some projects could use a little support. Here are a couple of resources that you may want to consider tapping into.

Ignition Philter

A new organization has been created in the community called Ignition Philter, which will be working on offering art grants for community projects heading to Flipside. You can learn a little more about this independent organization here. Email them directly to learn how your project could be considered for a grant, or if you would like to be a part of the art jury.

Project Support Page

This page was created to list projects that are looking for various types of support, to make their project successfully land at Burning Flipside. Maybe all you need is a few hands to set up and tear down? Perhaps your project requires community participation and you’d like to tap into art enthusiasts to make the thing go? You might have a fundraising page set up and you are looking for more people to help make your dream a reality. You could even be looking for someone who knows how to use a tool or could give advice on building a thing- this is a great place to look for assistance.

photo provided by stephy

This page serves as a shareable community bulletin board, helping participants know what projects could use support to make them go. Who doesn’t like more art?!

Please note that projects listed on this page are expected to be at this year’s event. If this is a personal project that you don’t intend to bring to the event, please do not submit a request to be included to keep space open for those that are.

Do make sure to register your art project when art registration opens. Art Registration should be open around February 15th, 2018 and will close at 11:59pm CST April 15th, 2018.

If you would like your project to be listed on the Project Support Page, complete and submit the form. Be sure to include links (to your project site page, fundraising page) if you are seeking financial contributions. Once your submission has been approved, your project will be listed on the page.

We highly encourage community members to share this link to help spread the word that some great projects could use a little help. Let’s get more art to Pyropolis!

Lloyd The Warehouse

Needing some space to build a thing? This community run year-round warehouse space may be just the thing to get you going! Contact a warehouse manager to discuss logistics, space, guidelines of use, and availability. Check out the Lloyd the Warehouse page for more information. Need tools?! We gots tools. So many tools. Use this resource and make magic happen. This is also a great place to meet with other artists in the community and share knowledge, ask for help, and general awesomeness.

 

 

 

 

Art Grants: Introducing Ignition Philter

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Photo provided by stephy

As you may have heard, a new independent organization has been formed that is collecting contributions to provide art grants for projects going to Flipside. You will see an opportunity to contribute when you register for tickets this year. Here are some details from the director, XTC:

 

What is Ignition Philter?

While completing your ticket request (due January 29th! Details can be found on the Burning Flipside ticket page) you may have noticed that you have the opportunity to donate to Ignition Philter, LLC. Who is that?  We are a new organization which is working to provide art grants to our Flipside artists. Following in the fine footsteps of the Art Garden and Tinderbox, we are here to help there be more art at Flipside.

Did you know picking a name is hard?

noun: ignition

the action of setting something on fire or starting to burn.

noun: phil·ter

a drink supposed to arouse love and desire for a particular person in the drinker; a love potion.

Art isn’t free, and the Burning Flipside LLC doesn’t use ticket money to directly fund independent art projects. Ticket money is used to cover operational expenses for the event and community resources such as funding the year-round warehouse to help facilitate the creation of art. So that’s where we step in! The Flipside patrons will give money to Ignition Philter, and we will be working to get that into the hands of Flipside artists. We plan to have the application for the art grants open in February. Keep an eye out on how to register your art for placement with Burning Flipside- art registration will be open from mid-February to April 15th. Then in March we will convene an art jury to pick the winners of the art grants. Then in May at Flipside, more art!

If you are interested in receiving a grant, keep your eyes peeled  for more information soon. If you are interested in being on the art jury, please email us at ignitionphilter@gmail.com and we will also be accepting juror queries at Town Hall. Let’s art!

Stickets Contest!! GIVE ME YOUR ART!!!

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“TicketBoard2017” created by the wonderful Nova-yesthat’smyrealname Photo courtesy of the fabulous André Olivier

Would you like free tickets to Flipside 2018: Return of the Shadows: 20 Years of Light and Dark?

We’re still taking in submitions for Ticket and Sticker art for a chance to win two free tickets!!!!
In other words —- clicks on megaphone —- GIVE ME YOUR ART..Art..art…!!!!

And did you know that designing the ticket or the sticker is actually the only way to get free tickets to Flipside?!? Leads, volunteers, even LLC members, pay for their tickets.

Design the Flipside ticket or sticker and submit your design today!
The person who submits the winning STICKER design will get TWO free tickets to Flipside 2018. The person who submits the winning TICKET design will also receive TWO free tickets to Flipside 2018.

Now…onto the guidelines.
Keep in mind all designs must be original.
No clip art, and no copywritten material may be used.
The designs can be created digitally or by hand.
So break out your pen, marker, crayon, stylus, or Poser and get those ideas a-flowing.
Hand-drawn submissions are perfectly fine!

Submit your designs or any questions at
stickets18@burningflipside.com

Deadline date is Wednesday February 7th by 11:59PM.
Hat draw for judges will be performed at Spring Town Hall.
We’ll be looking for about 7-13 judges for each contest.
One contest is for the Ticket and the other is for the Sticker. So… we are also gonna need at least 14 of you fine folks to step up and stare at crazy, awesome art and pick what will be printed onto our STickets.

We will positively confirm every submission we receive, so if you do not receive a confirmation within a few days, please email us back, and we will confirm receipt.

Please do NOT post or display your Ticket or Sticker design anywhere else until after the contest ends.
(The artist for the winning ticket design will be asked to refrain from posting it anywhere until after the event.)

Burning Flipside will do its best to include all submitted designs, in some form of hype, the survival guide, or the website, so your art should get seen.

When you submit you are implicitly giving permission for us to use your design — on the ticket or sticker, on the Burning Flipside website, or in the Survival Guide. If for some reason you do not want to give this permission, please specify that when you submit. Also please indicate how you would like your art to be credited.

Created and Photographed by the fantastic Nova-yesthat’smyrealname

TICKET Design Details
Please include the following information within your Ticket design:

Burning Flipside
Return of the Shadows: 20 Years of Light and Dark
May 24-28, 2018
www.burningflipside.com
Keep these things in mind:

Artwork should be 2.375 x 4.375 inches.
1/8 inch all around WILL BE CUT OFF creating a final size of –2.125 x 4.125 – this extra space is called bleed.
Artwork should be CMYK.
Artwork should be supplied at 100% as either vector based art (illustrator or freehand) or at 300dpi if it is a Photoshop file.
If Photoshop – .tif, .eps, .psd and .jpeg files are preferred. —-Please save jpeg files with “maximum quality”.
Tips for successful reproduction of your design:

You must pay attention to specs, or you could be disqualified.
Do not place text too close to the edge of your design. It should be 1/8″ in on either side once the artwork is trimmed.
Pick fonts that will be easy to read and try to not use a font that is really thin on a dark background. It will “plug-up” and be hard to read.
Do not get too complex, it is often easier to create artwork at a larger size and reduce it down. Keep in mind what it will look like at the smaller size.
If you create your art in layers, be sure and save that layered file just in case the printer needs anything altered. This will make it easier on them and you.

STICKER Design Details
Please include at least the following information within your Sticker design: “Flipside 2018”
Tips for successful reproduction of your design:

Submit in black and white (or another color and white). NOT multiple colors for the sticker.
Sticker Art should cover a 2.5″ circle at 300dpi.
Make your design simple! Intricate and super-fine lines (less than 1-pt) tend to dry up in the screen and will not show up on the sticker. For your reference, 1pt lines are roughly the same size as what a medium ball point pen will draw. It is a good idea to keep important elements of your artwork at least 1/8″ from the edge of the sticker to allow for cutting. Serifed fonts can be a nightmare – especially at small point sizes. Set all type to at LEAST 10 points.
In the past we’ve only printed black and white stickers. Grayscale or gradients are a real pain and don’t print very well, so try to stick to solid colors. If you want to submit a two or three color image, that’s fine and it will be reviewed, but (depending on cost) it may end up being converted into black and white. All halftones are screened at 55 lpi.
Have fun! good luck! We look forward to seeing the designs as they come in. It is an incredible outpouring from this intensively creative community! It’s a pleasure to serve as your STicket team.
If you have any questions, just let us know

Contact me at
stickets18@burningflipside.com

Love,
Your Flipside 2018 Sticker/Ticket Selection Team
P.S. clicks megaphone on GIVE ME YOUR ART…Art…art!!!!

 

Time To Submit Your Effigy Proposals!

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Photo By: Stephanie Vyborny

Effigy Proposal Letters of Interest are due 11:59pm CST November 26th, 2017!

Dreaming of DaFT

Although the city of Pyropolis is an annual, yet temporary, experiment there are some things Flipizens can count on year after year. Ecstatic greeters provide some hilarious hospitality. Pancake filled Rangers are happy to help. Ice is cool (and they’ll help make sure to keep your supplies cool, too). Then, there’s the centerpiece of the city: the Effigy. The best-known collaborative art piece that is supported by, built by, and burned down by the community. Each year, former effigy leads come together late in the year and pour over effigy proposal submissions in order to choose the most promising proposal.  

So, what’s it take to become the Design and Fabrication Team (DaFT) Lead for Flipside?

Over the years, we’ve had many outstanding, creative DaFT leads. The effigy design proposed, although hugely important, is just a part of the selection process. Would-be DaFT leads need to demonstrate an understanding of how to make a project go, working within the budget, at least some basic project management skills (or have the team resources to keep the project flowing), and leadership skills. And they need to demonstrate that they work well with others. DaFTies who choose to sign up to help make your design a reality need to be supported well—they need an awesome DaFT lead partner to make the magic happen.

Please have a look at the Effigy Proposal Guidelines from previous years in order to familiarize yourself with the responsibilities of being DaFT lead and the process in general. Under the new two-step process, the guidelines are a bit different (see the message below from the DSC), but this should give you a good idea of what to expect throughout the process.

Effigy Proposal Submission Time

The process starts with submitting a letter of interest. Not sure what should be included? This is where the DaFT Selection Committee (DSC) has got your back. Email them at daft-proposal@lists.burningflipside.com with questions. Don’t be afraid to reach out- this entire process (all the way through to scraping ashes off the effigy field post event) is community driven and collaborative. They want you to succeed. They want your proposals! There are folk on that list who will be happy to help you flesh out your awesome ideas.

Details straight from the DSC below- let’s see some art!

Burning Flipside needs an EFFIGY!

If you have a strong opinion or a grand vision about what Pyropolis
should build and burn in ‘018, and you’ve got the time, crew, and plan
for how to do it, now’s the time to tell us!

This year, though, we’re doing things a little bit differently. There
will be two rounds for the effigy proposals. Read closely for all the
info:

First we are calling for letters of interest. If you want to put
together an effigy proposal, create a basic outline of that proposal
and submit it to us. Once we have received the letters of interest, we
will then begin the second round, where the interested parties will be
given more information and asked to produce fully fleshed-out effigy
proposals.

Your letter of interest is due by 11:59 pm on Nov. 26st!
(Those who make the second round will be informed of the date their
final proposals are due.)

Being a DaFT lead means you’re responsible for designing the effigy
and leading the build team to create the Flipside Effigy, both during
pre-event and on-site. You don’t necessarily need to be a professional
engineer, architect, or carpenter. However, these skills certainly
help. We suggest you seek advice from experienced builders and project
leaders, should you need assistance or advice. It’s a challenge, but
don’t be scared! Be a rockstar! Lead DaFT!

Don’t wait till it’s too late! The DaFT (Design and Fabrication Team)
Selection Committee is here to help! Prior to the deadline, feel free
to show (one or all of) us what you’ve got! Pick our brains! We’re all
ex-DaFT leads, so we’ll be able to give you real insight into how to
(or not to) build, delegate, lift, bolt, screw, nail, cut, ShopBot,
beat-to-fit, transport, budget, burn, and otherwise DO the effigy
things.

       Contact us at: daft-proposal@lists.burningflipside.com


From all of us at the DSC, happy designing!

Jic
Beth
Dave
Chainsaw
Dotti
Krahnik
Lance
Kaleb
Seph

Fall Town Hall and Art: Event Theme Selection

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Time To Talk Flipside 2018

Our artistic participation is often driven by the theme that was selected the September before the event. Maybe we choose costumes inspired by the theme, or worked on a project influenced by it. Theme camp events and décor are often driven by the theme. For many people, the event’s theme is a central focal point. Even the effigy design is based off of the theme. So, where does this theme come from? Our theme selection process is as old as the event itself…

The First Regional Event

In 1998, Burning Man Texas became the first Burning Man regional event. Originally created in order to help support the Burning Man event during a financial crisis, Burning Man Texas quickly took on a life of its own and Burning Flipside was born. In the past 20 years, many regionals have sprung up across the state, the nation, and the globe. Each event is different and each event is special. One of the unique features of Burning Flipside is the way that the event theme selection is addressed. Unlike many other events, the “Nevada Regional” included, where a board or committee carefully selects the theme, the theme for each year’s Flipside is voted on by the community during Fall Town Hall.

Being Part of the Magic

How does the community get to participate? During Fall Town Hall, people pitch themes and the community votes. Anyone can suggest a theme- if you feel strongly about a theme, presenting the theme on site and pushing the theme online prior to the event is helpful. You are encouraged to sign in to the secure part of the Burning Flipside website and register your theme proposal. Being that we tend to be a community that values shenanigans and the ridiculous, the voting process is often chaotic. You may notice people try to vote multiple times, with varying degrees of success. “Bribery” is not unusual. Embracing the mayhem and silliness is not a bad idea. Eventually, maybe halfway through Town Hall, the votes are tallied by the AAR, LLC and the winning theme is announced.

What Makes a Good Theme?

Who am I, or you, to judge? Every theme has wild supporters and rabid detractors and that’s okay. Check out the themes we’ve had in the past and think about what sings to your soul. If the theme means anything to you, be involved.

Is The Theme Important?

That’s up to the individual. You may hate the theme that was voted in, choose to ignore it, and still have all the fun anyway. You may love the theme, base all your plans around it, and still have all the fun anyway. It’s up to you. If you hated last year’s theme, present something “better.” Get a group together, be silly, have fun, help make the magic happen. For many, the theme is very important and the process of community participation is cherished.

How To Be Involved

Fall Town Hall is held at the warehouse every September. The 2017 Fall Town Hall will be held on September, 23rd. Tailgating starts at 12:30, the meeting starts at 2:34pm. Whether you’re there to present, to vote, to get event updates, to see our people, your presence is appreciated and encouraged. And don’t forget to have fun!

 

Pyropolis Art Guild Presents- Art Nights At Lloyd!

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Working and interacting with other artists is a great way to get motivated to make more art. It’s easy to find ourselves in a slump when we’re on our own.  Need a little kick in the pants, a little inspiration? We’re here to help. The Pyropolis Art Guild is hosting Art Nights At Lloyd to give our varied art community a night to come create together.

 Regular Art Nights will be held in the air-conditioned meeting room, so plan your projects for that space (unless there’s a specific class/workshop/art focus, keep this in mind in case you were wanting to bring a project that requires lots of noise, smells or mess).

 Some nights will be focused, with life drawing, workshops, speakers, etc. Many more will be a gathering to paint, weld, make blinky light projects, crochet, collaborate with other artists and much more. Let your imagination be your guide.

 We’d like to stay focused on art and leave social connecting for Church Nights, so please bring a project or find one when you arrive. Let’s make some amazing!

Art Nights At Lloyd

3106 Industrial Terrace, Austin, TX 78758

Launch: June 15 2017

7pm-10pm

(Currently scheduled for every other Thursday- check the Facebook group for updates)

 

**As with all things Lloyd, this is a Leave No Trace Event**

 

What To Bring:

Bring Your Own Art and Supplies

(or find out what is available onsite to work on- please get in touch with a host)

 

Pyropolis Art Guild:

Was created in order to help the artists in our community mutually support one another by sharing past, present and future art related projects, as well as encourage success through learning together and from each other. To learn more and to join the Pyropolis Art Guild, find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1344728312220948/

Image: Tom Etheridge by Bean Noneya

Art Spotlight #4: THE LIGHTBOX

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 I have some info about Lumination’s Lightbox art piece for Flipside this year! This info was written by my camp mate Michael Daross.
Is there anything you want the Flipside community to know or understand about your piece?
   -The Lightbox is an 8 foot cube covered with string lights and various reflective materials (usually CDs) which participants can come inside of to dance, contemplate the universe, abuse their lungs, or just ogle the pretty shinies. It’s had a number of iterations, but has always been about entering a doorway and being transported to a place of beauty and tranquility. We usually have some refractive glasses or a Darth Vader mask lying around to enhance the effect, if your brain can handle it. This year, we’ve significantly upped the ante by replacing the white incandescent lights with 16 rows of programmable LEDs, controlled by Arduinos. There shall be rainbows. We’ve also added a floor so it’s not as muddy, and we usually have some downtempo music playing (unless we’re next to a sound camp).

What inspired it?

     -At my first or second Flipside, I saw some fire spinners with a wall of CDs behind them, and thought it looked really cool. And then I remembered that I had an entire crate of CDs taking up space in my garage (from a failed album release of mine, which we need not discuss). I thought, “What if you could be completely enclosed by lights and reflections?”  My campmate Maples and I were looking for an art project to contribute to camp, so we collaborated on the structure and design, making tweaks over the years, with help from Anthro, who is the electrical wiz, and other campmates. Our favorite part of the piece is just watching people enjoy it in various surprising ways; we’ve had a number of participants tell us that being in there saved them from being in a bad headspace.

Any funny stories or challenges in the creation?

   -The main issue has been people not realizing there was a door and trying to drunkenly force their way through the walls to get inside. (We’re taking some steps to mitigate that this year.) And at least one group of people thought that the whole piece was some kind of guerrilla marketing campaign for the album, which would have been weird given that we basically destroyed the CDs in the process of making it.

Anything you want to say about yourself?

I am a marketing wizard, using my Flipside art to promote my musical failure by somehow getting people to pay for it even though it’s covered with adhesive tape.

Art Spotlight #3: STARS

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Is there anything you want the Flipside Community to understand about your piece?

 –When we were kids most of us recall a time period where, perhaps we’d go to the park and we’d see all these other kids playing and we could just run up to them and start playing too. No questions asked. You were just accepted. At some point in adolescence, the differences in our backgrounds start creating these divides between us. You start noticing where you belong (and where you don’t belong). At some point, you learned that it’s suddenly become weird to go up to a stranger and say, “Hey, will you be my friend?”. By the time you’re an adult, it’s so hard to make a new friend. It is for me anyway. The thing that’s amazing about the stars is they bring out that inner child in every single person who receives them. These stars are not only gifted in masses at festivals, but to people I meet in day-to-day life.

 -What inspired it?

A friend kind of twisted my arm always trying to get me into glass art. I was really busy and not that interested until one day she brought it up again and I thought maybe it would be cool to make a glass star. As a person who is both artistically and mathematically minded, I am an incredibly obsessive perfectionist. I hate looking at my paintings because all I see is their flaws. I double-triple check all my work in fear of ever being wrong. I may be the most “worryingest” girl you will ever meet, I worry about everything and am so self-critical. Sometimes I’m surprised I have any friends at all, I’m probably such a drag to be around. The stars were different. I loved looking at them. I became really obsessive, making star after star after star. Before long I had hundreds of these little glass stars and I just loved picking them up in handfuls and admiring each of them again and again. However, I was accumulating hundreds of stars and I kind of didn’t know what to do with them, so I just sort of started giving them to people. Of course, I considered selling them at first, people offered to buy them, and still continue to, but I never sold one. Thank god. I’m so glad I can say I never sold one because I think that’s one of the things that I think keeps them “pure”. In this society where so much is about ego and money, I’m thankful to keep the stars separate. So, I just continued to give them to people and hopefully, I’ll continue to be in a position to keep giving them for as long as I live, because I think they are really special. The whole project has been kind of a god-send since I’m so shy and apparently such a difficult person to get to know. Small talk is really hard for me. People think I’m weird (and not in a cool way), but now I get a pass on that. When I sit next to someone on an airplane, I get to skip that awkward period where they are acknowledging you, but you don’t really know if they want to actually engage with you. It always bothered me, that the universe may have distributed that person to sit next to me on this plane for a reason, but I’m just reading my book. Now I have a solution, I just pull out a bag of stars and say, “Hey, look, I have a bag of stars and I give them away to people for free, which one do you want?”. Whoever sees them turns into that little kid on the playground. EVERYONE loves looking at, and picking out a star. It doesn’t matter who they are. I have seen the most tired business men, all stuffy looking in their suits turn into beaming little boys so happy to get to be playing with stars on a plane. They are so thrilled to be able to take something home to their kids who miss them because they travel so much. It’s the best.

 -Any funny stories or challenges in the creation?

 I’ve gifted thousands of stars now for years. I’ve gifted them to homeless people, kids in hospitals, neighbors, people who just got out of prison, astronauts, rich people, poor people, blind people, waiters and waitresses, the tow truck driver, my cat’s vet… sometimes I even leave batches in random people’s porches. One story that has always made an impression on me, was I was at this music venue that was run by a group of felons, people who had clearly had rough lives, been to prison, and were trying to make a new path for themselves in life with running this business. A bunch of college students were celebrating their recent graduation from a very prestigious university at this venue. I happened to be at this place with an unusually large bath of stars so I busted them out all over a table and everyone swarmed around. The observation I made was that I noticed that the newly college graduates would look at a star and say, “THAT is the one I want. THAT is the star for me” and they would take it with confidence and be really enthusiastic about it. The people who had been in prison, that ran the venue, hesitated. When they saw a star they liked, they said “I really like this star but I don’t want to take the best one”, and I had to assure them that they really could have whatever star they wanted, that all these stars were going to strangers and yet they continued to behave as though they didn’t feel like they should take the star they liked the most.

 -Anything you want to say about yourself/the creative force about the piece?

I’m really boring to actually talk to when you get past the stars.

 

Art Spotlight #2 : Interactive Neon Yarn Art

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My string art was inspired by trying to come up with an interesting and fun interactive art form by using a recycled trampoline.  We have brought it to Flipside four years in a row and every year it takes on new and exciting shapes and colors . This ever changing art piece is lots of fun for whom ever wants to partake. It’s truly simple –  just pick up some yarn, loop it around the frame, and throw it to a friend on the opposite side, loop it again around frame and throw it again.  Make a dream catcher or spell your name the possibilities are endless. This year we added dancing lights and music.  But most of all have fun.