One of the things I love the most about working with domes is that the system is set up to be a space of potential that artists and communities can use to build something truly unique. One of the things I often focus on is that the domes can be a beautiful housing for installation art, movement art, workshops, and living of any kind. I talk about the uses of the interior a lot, but one of the things I mention less is the potential that the outside of the dome has to be its own space of beauty and art.

While the framing and shade stars are beautiful in and of themselves, I am always aware that the surface of the shade stars offers infinite potential as a canvas. Not only are there a variety of different types of spandex patterns, but there's no limit to what can be done on this surface with just a little imagination. In the years past, I personally have explored this surface in a variety of ways.

Screen-printing on the stars is one of the very first things I tried. I loved that the flat beautiful surface of the fabric held the ink so well. It was durable and added some life and interest to the panels.

Halcyon Temple 2016

Another thing that I found worked great was digitally printing the panels.

With dye-sublimation processes you're able to print dye directly onto fabric. This means that you're able to take any image you want and have a photo realistic image that is durable and long-lasting. I loved how realistic I could get these, but I found the process to be a little time consuming and expensive. I also couldn't find a printer big enough to print a panel that could be a full shade star, so I ended up having to sew extra fabric edges on to all of the panels.

Orison Dome, 2016

Projections are a wonderful and non-permanent way of using a dome as a canvas.

VJ UserZero and I used his mapping software Freeliner to map the contours of the dome, but there are many other options if you don't have the know-how of a VJ. You can use any home projector or light source. Get creative! Make a shadow puppet theater! Hang paper cutouts in front of a light source! There is no end to what you can make your shade panels look like with light and a little creativity.

L'OssitBurn, 2016

Painting of course, is a wonderful and easy way to make these panels unique.

I prefer spray paint, but you could paint on your existing shade stars with almost anything. If you have a structure and you're wanting to update it, paint is an easy and fun way to go. I can't wait for the day when I see someone with a dome decide to hand all their friend’s paintbrushes and lets them have at their space. If you decide to do it or have done it already, please, send me pictures! I'd love to see it!

Gratitude Migration, 2016

This year I wanted to try a different technique to use on the panels of my dome. I had been booked for a solo show for the SUB gallery in Montreal and I wanted to create an art installation using my dome frame.

I have been working a lot in stain glass and video this year, and my main goal was to make panels that could include both of these aspects. This meant that the panels would need to be transparent enough to let light through, and strong enough to hold glass.

The show was going to be about a community of activists who I saw making change in the world. I wanted it to be a show of portraits, but I didn't want the show to be photographs hung on a wall. I wanted them to be a structure you walked into, that protected you and invited you into the community. I decided that the dome was the perfect structure to pull off this feeling.

The interior of each portrait would be made of stain glass. The intention was for these pieces to represent the spiritual centre of each individual.

I started by taking portraits of these individuals, but needed a way to make their portraits appear true to life on some sort of fabric. I didn't want to use digital printing, as I found it costly and couldn't get it to be the correct size, so I started doing testing with printed paper and a technique I found online called gel transfer.

I photoshopped the images into the artwork that I wanted to see on the panels and then laser printed them to scale on thin paper.

I checked to make sure that they were the right size to fit the stain glass pieces that I had made.

I bought a transparent and strong white fabric that I laid face down and stretched so it wouldn't shift during the process.

I coated the fabric in a painting gel medium and laid the paper ink side down onto the wet medium.

I let the whole thing completely dry and then I soaked the paper in water. Rubbing gently I removed the paper backing from the fabric. The ink was stuck in the gel medium and the paper was completely gone.

While time consuming, the process was completely successful in achieving the effect that I wanted. The portraits had a lot more texture to them because of places where the ink didn't adhere or was rubbed off, but I liked the look of it.

I tested the first couple panels to make sure that they were transparent enough to let through my projections.

This technique was completely successful in achieving the requirements I needed for this installation. Even though it took a long time and some elbow grease, I loved the look of it.

More photos of this installation soon to come !

Jodi Sharp Artist Talk, Concordia University MFA Talks, March 24, 2017

My History

For the last decade I have defined my practice around the facilitation of a utopic world which deals with the intrinsic connection I feels with nature and other humans. The purpose of my work is to research and put forward a vision of the world that I want to come to pass. I see a need to re-create an ethics of responsibility towards others, to abolish the ideas of binary and the Other in order to reduce conflict, and to reclaim a space in our society where there is a greater awareness of how we interact with and impact our environment.

But before I show you any of my work, I need to explain to you a little about myself. My political, spiritual and social views are the centre of my practice, and those views are based in a life and community that is alternative to the overarching culture practiced in North America. The type of life I have lived informs my work, and there are two themes in particular that I feel are very relevant.

The first one is that I grew up all over the world. Montreal is the 52nd city that I have lived in, with places that have spanned North America, Europe and Asia. I won’t get into the details of why I was shuffled around so much, but the fact is that it gave me a very unique perspective on the world.

Something that type of lifestyle gave me was a lack of attachment to a particular cultural space. Each new place gave me some new piece of identity that didn’t always link to what I had known before. The societal rituals and cultural norms changed from place to place, and I became a bit of a hodgepodge person, with a made up idea of what normal was supposed to look like. This translates directly into my work in the way that I feel an allowance to often cherry pick different types of symbology or cultural reference and make them into something new. All of the symbol and ritual I use relates to me through direct personal experience, even if it comes from different places around the globe.

That mobile lifestyle also completely affected the idea of what community means to me. I feel like a majority of people in the world have spent a number of formative years growing up and around the same people. These communities have biases and norms which the individual adopts and as they grow older they tend to seek out similar types of people who they then continue to make a life with.

I never had that type of situation. Because my location was continually changing I never had a community around me that anchored my identity. This allowed me a type of freedom of choice around the type of people I was in touch with. Rather than having to make friends with whomever was in my vicinity, I was exposed to a large number of people who I could then choose to stay in touch with. The idea of travelling or moving to engage with the humans I chose as my community became a logical part of my life.

This connected me into a community of people that I have based a large part pf my practice around, the space of transformational festivals. These spaces are full of other individuals who also lead a mobile existence and are willing to travel to find other like-minded people to connect with.

A transformational festival is a co-created counterculture festival that espouses a community-building ethic, and a value system that celebrates life, personal growth, social responsibility, healthy living, and creative expression. Transformational alludes both to personal transformation and steering the transformation of culture toward sustainability. Some transformational festivals resemble music festivals, but are distinguished by such features as seminars, classes, ceremonies, installation art or other visual art, the availability of whole food and bodywork, and sustainable environmental policy.

The space of these festival is theorized by David Bottorff in his paper “Emerging Influence of Transmodernism and Transpersonal Psychology Reflected in Rising Popularity of Transformational Festivals,” as a realization of Foucault’s idea of heterotopia. Heterotopias are physical realizations of utopian spaces that are “counter-sites” within the current culture, where culture is “simultaneously represented, contested and inverted” (Foucault). These spaces hold a mirror to culture. Largescale transformational music festivals are modern day heterotopias because they not only mirror culture, but lead to discourse that refracts culture, by changing or distorting its image through a specific medium.

This was the community that by my teens I had sought out and then came of age in. Rather than growing up in a traditional community located in my vicinity, my peers and influences were others who were focused on the creation of a new type of cultural space. Between this community interaction and my lack of attachment to culture or physical place, the world around me became one that I had the capacity to design and create through the choice of what I would engage with.

The second major influence of my life was my relation to spirituality. I grew up as a part of a fundamental Christian culture. My dad is a Baptist paster, so my upbringing was extremely focused on the way that my specific family practiced religion. When I was growing up this meant that the roles that I was allowed to have in life were extremely narrow, especially in regards to my gender as a woman. I had a set way that I was supposed to live, and any deviation from that meant that I was sinning and would possibly go to hell.

It is important to note that I am a huge advocate for religious freedom. I feel that religious spaces, even fundamental ones, are important in making up our wonderful and diverse world. I think that anyone who chooses those beliefs should be allowed to do so and practice how they need, as long as it doesn’t elicit violence on others. But for me personally, the space I grew up in was incredibly noninclusive. I took extreme personal issue with its treatment of women, the environment, and its nationalistic tendencies.

But one thing I did take away from that space was a deep connection to spirit and the great mysteries of our world. I have always felt a fluidity to my beliefs and life practices, and while the dogma of religion has never sat well with me, I have always felt that there is a deep undercurrent of magic in the world. I feel no need to explain to myself what it is, only that I see it as valuable in allowing humans to connect to each other and the world around them. This lack of definition combined with my lack of attachment to culture or place has created a practice where I feel that I can choose which rituals and symbols hold universal truth for me, while discarding religious practices I feel do not resonate.

I want to be clear that when I speak of this I am not speaking of colonialist cultural and spiritual appropriation. Unhealthy appropriation is focused on dominance and exploitation. What I speak of is instead a transculturation.

Transculturation is a term coined by Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz in 1947 to describe the phenomenon of merging and converging cultures. Transculturation encompasses more than transition from one culture to another; it does not consist merely of acquiring another culture (acculturation) or of losing or uprooting a previous culture (deculturation). Rather, it merges these concepts and additionally carries the idea of the consequent creation of new cultural phenomena (neoculturation). It is the act of creating something new out of inspiration from the other, rather than of stealing what is someone else’s.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}

This context of new spiritual creation underlies the entirety of my art practice. The belief that we are capable of making space sacred through our attention and presence has lived with me through all my of creations and is now the central focus. I feel that for me art and religion are synonymous. They both provide a way of understanding ourselves and comparing our experiences with others. Both focus on creating a vision and greater connection to the world in general, and it is through this connection that I hope to make a difference in the whole.

Artist as Shaman

According to Henry Weibe in his book Myth, Religion and Ritual : The Subversive Artist, the artistic practice is synonymous with a religious one. Weibe states that the creation and consumption of art is "for the soul's sake," and that art holds power because it is ubiquitous with ritual, which is one of the conditions of our humanity. (Pg 26)

If we move away from following a major religion, and instead apply our spirituality to an artistic practice, art can begin to hold a place of deep meaning and ritualized transformation. In this way art can function as a life shaping force, having to do with the way life is lived, the way morality is chosen and expressed, and the way myth is created and explored. Artists can become creators of visions, with the capacity to pattern life. By using religious space as a model for spiritual practice and transformative change, artists have the capacity to take ideas and concepts from various worldwide spiritual spaces and make something that is unique to a personal practice.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333; background-color: #fafafa} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333; background-color: #fafafa; min-height: 15.0px} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

The themes in my work often coalesce around the creation of this new type of religious space, which I feel is indicative of an upcoming generation. I see a new wave of individuals arise who are focused on the universal truths of spirituality, rather than practicing established religion. My practice is therefore interested in experimenting with taking established ritual and religion and creating new spiritual spaces. Practicing as somewhat of a religious poacher, I take ideas and concepts from various worldwide religious spaces and make something that is unique to a new generation.

Wiebe states that …poets and artists are the source, the creators of life sustaining visions. They suggest, they set forth, they pattern life, provide its meaning, its possibilities, and its imperative. They are "dream makers." He suggests, "An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world." (Pg 13 )

Four aspects

With this in mind, there are four parts in which I could categorize my religious and artistic practice. The Ritual, the Artifact, The Temple and the Ephemeral.

Ritual

One the key aspects of spiritual practice is the capacity to change your state through two things - the repetition of action, and the creation of space sacred through our attention and presence.

Repetition reinforces the principles of practice and helps solidify it in the body of someone again and again. It is a returning to the historical knowledge of our ancestors, a carrying forward of the power by continually repeating the act and thus changing ourselves. The call to Mosque, going to church on sunday, praying before dinner, religious holidays, offerings to your ancestors, these are all things that enforce our belief and help us stay connected to the sacred.

The act of focusing our attention and presence can be brought about in many ways and helps us change our state so we can connect. The drawing of the pagan circle, stressing the body, rites of passage, traditional ritual dress, praying, all of these things are essential to the core of spiritual practice in traditional religion.

These two actions completely blanket the entirety of artistic practice. Not just in performance art ritual. Every artist has a repetitive practice in the type of materials and subject matter they use. And each art piece seeks to change the state of the viewer through focusing attention and presence.

In an effort to connect into her deeper animal essence, Marion Laval-Jeantet underwent a stressful and performative act in May the Horse Live in Me. It was a self experiment that aimed to blur the boundaries between species.

In the performance the artist enters a room with a live horse in front of an audience. Wearing black that matches the horse, she places hooves on her feet. She is then injected with horse blood plasma. Having progressively built up her tolerance to the foreign animal bodies over the several months previous, she was injected with the plasma containing the entire spectrum of foreign immunoglobulins, without the consequences of falling into anaphylactic shock.

Horse immunoglobulins by-passed the defensive mechanisms of her own human immune system, entered her blood stream to bond with the proteins of her own body and, as a result of this synthesis, had an effect on all major body functions, impacting even the nervous system.

The artist stated that, during and in the weeks after the performance, she experienced not only alterations in her physiological rhythm but also of her consciousness. “I had the feeling of being extra-human,” she explained. “I was not in my usual body. I was hyper-powerful, hyper-sensitive, hyper-nervous and very diffident. The emotionalism of an herbivore. I could not sleep. I probably felt a bit like a horse.’

My Performance

In my own performance practice repletion and change of state through physical stress have played a prominent part. Although I haven’t done a performance in a couple years, it is still a key part of my practice I’d like to discuss.

Dealing with Loss

, 2011 was a series of performance photographs that talk about the rituals we need to create for ourselves in order to properly grieve. Coming from a religious background where the rituals were already created to mourn the loss of human life, I questioned what happens when a person no longer subscribes to those specific rituals or beliefs.

Dressing in an outfit that represented my own human life and the skeletal remains that will one day be my own body, I created a succession of actions with the intention of creating a new space where loss could be acknowledged, felt, and released.

Working with my own symbol for unnecessary loss- the skull of a moose who had been shot by hunters who did not take away or use the body, I tied herself to its remains. Walking in the cold, staying with the body, tying and untying myself, I stayed, freezing and mourning, for over 6 hours. Finally, when some sort of release was felt and I was able to let go, I gave the corpse back to its natural habit, leaving it to its natural process of decaying back into the universe.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

I am animal

, was undertaken in 2012 as a continuation on themes of dissolving the stereotypical human form into something more naturalistic. In this piece I wove and sewed handmade paper onto my body to make a cocoon that would allow my to transform. The process was painstaking and difficult. The paper was thick and the needles continually pierced skin as I became more and more confined.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

Throughout the nine and a half hour performance I focused on the breaking down of self, the changing of my identity into something that is more nature based and merging into the environment. The intention was to achieve a deeper personal connection with the world around me through the loss of my own visual identity.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

The time reduced video of this performance was then projected onto the relic of the cocoon that at the end I cut off of my body, having, eventually, to return to the world of my own form.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

Nature Preserve

was a performance done in 2013 in the parking lot of a large shopping centre. In it, I created a ritual where I tried to call to the "gods of nature" to replace the trees that previously lived there.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

Although I put in hours of work, the ritual ultimately does not achieve the goal of making trees appear, and I leaves the space essentially as I arrived in it. In fact, the only thing that is changed through the course of time is my handmade paper costume, which breaks down and falls away as the ritual goes on.

The intent of the performance was to discuss how difficult it is to replace natural space after it has been removed, and how "faith" will not fix the damage done to the environment. If the damage to environmental space is to be repaired it will require a lot more effort than prayer, and if we do not take the correct actions to change the situation, the only damage done will be to ourselves.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

Which brings us to the next brakes of practice. The artifact.

The artifact is a sacred object that holds power either from contagion magic or iconic power. The law of Contagion is a folk belief that suggests that once two people or objects have been in contact, there is a magical link that persists between them. The object therefore, has the designation of "producing" the person. Because of this the art object is a powerful thing that the viewer can use to connect to the power of the artists vision even when the artist isn’t there.

Lucien Shapiro is an artist who creates ritual and then leaves the artifact to be with the viewer in a gallery space. He creates urban masks and amor behind which he can hide and protect. These masks have the power to separate and shield ourselves from reality. His

Urban Obsessions

 tangibly relates the past’s and present’s ritualistic escape from stress, pain and even love.

Utilizing raw materials correlated to various forms of addiction such as drugs, violence, and collections, Shapiro’s sculptures embody the act of compulsive preoccupation. Through his own addiction to the process of painstaking repetition and meticulousness of his craft, we are presented with works that challenge preconceived notions of habits, impulses, and dependencies. Shapiro’s work, a laborious craft and meditative consumption of time, transforms forgotten objects into nostalgically interesting and beautiful relics that create a sense of the sacred.

My practice

In my own practice, my object making is made up of mixed media that references religious imagery and icons. I often incorporate real religious artifacts, biological matter and stain glass, as to me these things draw historical religious tradition into my present one.

The Family Project

The Family Project

is a discussion around what a person does when they no longer have a biological support system that they were born into. As I was born into a transient world, I encountered a societal space where the definition of family was changing.

Because family is generally biological, I asked people who I considered family to donate a biological sample of their choice as a symbol of the capacity we have to choose each other. Each one of these samples went on a microscope slide, and was placed inside the box in the succession they were donated.

My own biological sample was in the centre of the crest on the top of the box, and is seen as you look down through the box onto the samples inside. As you look down through the glass slides, all of the biology begins to merge, signifying unity, while at the same time DNA is one of the most individual things possible.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

The second part of the project is a family crest that was created by the artist. Heraldry has been used throughout the history of mankind to testify belonging with a family group, and is generally passed down from father to children. In this piece I took my own right to create my own new crest, which is etched into the glass and tattooed onto my back.

I then then invited others in my community to adopt the same crest, or to alter it in any way they so desired. These crests were then embroidered on clothing that those in my community choose to wear as a symbol of unity, but also of choice.

Through the symbolic exchange of literal biology, and the adoption and re-creation of traditional symbols, this piece discusses the choices surrounding what it means to be family, and what happens when we begin to chose our own.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

The Whore Series

is a series that questions how we define and remember the ambiguous concept of love and sexuality. "Love" is a historical and social concept that is made up of a variety of definitions and social constructs. It is one of the most common topics of our current culture, and yet no definition or way of communicating it can ever really translate the experience of individuals.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

Likewise the view of the female who opens herself up to love is something that is a highly volatile topic in current and past societies. Instead of women being seen as brave souls who forage their way into connection with others, women are degraded, demeaned and name called for their forays into open sexuality. This series explores not only what it means to love, but what it means to be a woman who loves.

Of course we can’t talk about spiritual space without the discussion of the temple. A temple is a place specifically reserved for religious activities like prayer, sacrifice or ritualistic rites. It is a space of worship and is found in almost all religions, wether it takes the form of a permanent structure, a building used occasionally or a temporary circle drawn in the sand.

Art galleries are the space or a building that is meant for the exhibition of art. They can be either private or public; and are intended to display various art forms to public. The role of galleries tends to be in the validation of the artwork, but it also creates a space for participants to come into the sacred and connect with something greater than themselves.

On the

Nasa Orbit Pavillion

Jason Klimoski created the ultimate temple in allowing participants to connect to something outside of themselves. Employing the concept of a shell held up to the ear to hear the ocean, Kilmoski created a nautilus-shaped structure that created a sound chamber to the greater universe. Within the structure the sounds and trajectories of 19 NASA satellites orbiting the Earth, could be experienced in real time as they orbited overhead. The surface perforations of the structure echo the orbital paths of the satellites orbiting the earth, and culminate around the oculus at the centre of the sound chamber.

My Practice

One of the things I have focused on the most in the last few years has been the creation of community spaces where people can engage in ritual to change something is their own lives or in the world. The pop-up temple has been a term I have used to describe the structures I erect and move around the festival circuit. In these structures I tend to have a ritual action that the audience can participate in, in order to help them shift something about their lives.

In 2016

The Chamber of Exchange

was a temple that people could enter into to practice the skill of letting go and then receiving. The idea behind this project was that every person has things in their life that they wish they could change, and this dome sought to create a ritual that could help change it.

People entered the dome and wrote down something that they wished to let go of in their lives. This piece of paper was placed in an envelope and hung. Then they wrote something they wished to receive. This was place in an envelope and put into a sculpture in the middle of the structure.

The intentional action prepared the participants to change the energy in their lives and allow them to start the process of transformation.

In 2016 the

Halcyon Temple

was created to be a bright interval of peace set in the midst of adversity. Based on the Greek myth of Ceyx and Alycyone, the dome sought to embody a place of unexpected rest from the outside world.

The temple was focused on calling in any deified being of unconditional love to protect and provide rest for the inhabitants of the temple. The imagery on the outside of the temple is made of sacred geometry focused on connection with nature and calling calming energies in. The screen prints and inner altar all focused around Greek and Egyptian gods and goddesses that embodied the imagery of laying to rest all adversity in order to be reborn and transcend.

The dome was placed in the middle of a large festival ground as a place of rest and intention as a counterpart to the intensity of the rest of the space. Unlike much of the work that I do which is focused on bringing community into a space to connect, the spirit of the Halcyon Temple desired to be something different. It chose to be quiet and safe, allowing for a space of solitude, ease and harmoniousness.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {color: #000000} span.s2 {font-kerning: none; background-color: #fafafa}

The Prayer Flag Project

was a moving installation that is took place at 11 different festivals in North America over the course of 2015-2016. The purpose of this project was to inspire people to actively participate in creating their own spiritual space and to promote community wellness. It consisted of a movable dome and strings of prayer flags that were set up at festivals and in parks during the summer. 

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}

Based on the idea of Tibetan prayer flags, a station was set up with empty flags where people could make their own. The flags then got hung at the end of the prayer chain. Over the course of the year the chain grew longer and longer, and the prayers traveled across communities everywhere.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}

Ephemeral

One last thing that I’m interested in moving more towards in my practice is the use of the ephemeral. Because I am speaking about spiritual spaces that shift and change I want the work to be able to shift as well. The thing I am the most interested in at this time is the use of light to create work that is never stationary.

Stephen Knapp’s Light-paintings are an art form working solely with light. Dispensing with traditional media and narrative content his light-paintings are intangible, multi-dimensional compositions.

Light-paintings are created by using a special glass treated with layers of metallic coatings that act as a selective prism to separate focused light into different wavelengths of the spectrum. Knapp cuts, shapes and polishes the glass in his studio to make a palette that he can use to refract and reflect light onto a surface and the surrounding space.

Tailored to their setting, Knapp’s ligh-tpaintings embody an inherently unique and wholly original form of art that integrates sculptural, structural and purely visual elements into compositions that transform their environment and envelop the viewer in iridescence.

My Body is a Battlefield

The installation My Body is a Battlefield discusses what can happen when individuals band together to shift the overarching system of postmodernist nihilism and fear that is prominent in the world at large.

Every day we are assaulted with an unhealthy consumerist society. The current realm of power manifests in the form of large corporations and governments who are focused on a profit instead of the true wellbeing of individuals. It is a daily task to keep the negative assault of fear mongering and consumerism out of our bodies in order to concentrate on a progression towards positive change. One of the easiest ways to do this is to band together with other like minded individuals who are focused on creating solutions to make the world a better place. This installation is about the communities of people who are attempting to shift the cultural norms of systemic oppression and harmful human action.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}

As you enter the gallery you are assaulted with media images of common advertising, newscasts and social media. These are prevalent and normalized reflections of violence, social unrest, white privilege, the hyper sexualized female body and corporate propaganda. These projections cycle through our vision, every once in a while coming to periods of rest that remind us the release we feel when we cut this type of media out of our routine.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}

In the centre of the gallery a sculpture of transparent portraits of community activists create an enclosed space that is inserted underneath the projected image. The portraits, while housing powerful individuals who are making change in the world, are also representative of the potential for all bodies to come together in community.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}

From the outside of the enclosure the projection is the most prominent aspect, but as you enter into the shelter of the community space the image shifts to one of warmth and containment.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}

The appearance is changed again by a series of mirrors that reflect the image back towards the projection.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}

The viewer is also implicated in the piece through their own shadow and reflection that changes the final image.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}

The installation becomes about the beauty of the new and ever changing light that is created from these interventions.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}

Through the action of light being projected and constantly changing, this exhibit discusses the power of the individual and community to have an impact on the greater dialogue in order to elicit change.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 19.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 17.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}

My Body is a Battlefield will run in the SUB gallery in Montreal from March 21-25, 2017.

Bibliography

Berger, Peter L. The Many Altars of Modernity: Toward a Paradigm for Religion in a Pluralist Age. De Gruyter (2014)

Bey, Hakim. The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism. Autonomedia (1991)

Bottorff, David Lane. Emerging Influence of Transmodernism and Transpersonal Psychology Reflected in Rising Popularity of Transformational Festivals. Institute of Pastoral Studies, Loyola University of Chicago (2015)

Butler, Andy. Art Orienté Objet: may the horse live in me.

http://www.designboom.com/art/art-oriente-objet-may-the-horse-live-in-me/

(August 9, 2011)

Chodorkoff, Dan. The Anthropology of Utopia: Essays on Social Ecology and Community Development. New Compass Press (2014)

Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality. Vintage; Reissue edition (1990)

Garvett, Symone. NASA Orbit Pavillion.

http://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/nasa-orbit-pavilion_o

(March 9, 2017)

Knapp, Stephen. LightPaintings.

http://www.stephenknapp.com/bio/

(February 4, 2016)

Krishnamurti, Jiddu. Think on These Things. HarperOne; Reprint Edition (1989)

Martland, Thomas R. Religion as Art: An Interpretation. SUNY Press (1981)

Ortiz, Fernando. Cuban Counterpoint, Tobacco and Sugar. Duke University Press, (Reprint, 1995)

Pfadenhauer, Michaela. In-Between Spaces. Pluralism and Hybridity as Elements of a New Paradigm for Religion in the Modern Age. SpringerLink (2016)

Romero, Oscar. In Christ the Three Great Dimensions of Truly Great People are Revealed.

http://www.romerotrust.org.uk/homilies/181/181_pdf.pdf

. (Sept 23, 1979)

Shapiro, Lucien. Fear Collecting Rituals; a Fools Journey.

http://lucienshapiro.com/

(November 4, 2014)

Weibe, Henry. Myth, Religion and Ritual : The Subversive Artist: invoking archetypal roots. Evenstone Press (1998)

Wilber, Ken. The One Two Three of God. Sounds True; Unabridged edition (2006)

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #252525} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #252525} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333; background-color: #fafafa; min-height: 15.0px} p.p5 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333; background-color: #fafafa} span.s1 {font-kerning: none; background-color: #fafafa} span.s2 {color: #000000} span.s3 {font-kerning: none}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333; background-color: #fafafa} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333; background-color: #fafafa; min-height: 15.0px} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333; background-color: #fafafa} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333; background-color: #fafafa; min-height: 15.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {color: #000000} span.s2 {font-kerning: none; background-color: #fafafa}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #212121} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #212121} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.1px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p5 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.1px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px} p.p6 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} span.s2 {color: #292929}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333; min-height: 15.0px} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 21.9px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333; background-color: #fafafa} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333; background-color: #fafafa; min-height: 15.0px} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333; background-color: #fafafa} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333; background-color: #fafafa; min-height: 15.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #323333} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} span.s2 {font-kerning: none; background-color: #fafafa} span.s3 {color: #000000}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #212121} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #212121; min-height: 15.0px} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px}

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of this incredible story.

I will say that this sculpture was one of the most intense things I have even done with the emotionality of what was going on. The whole piece was a giant act of grieving and processing trauma.

I will also say that their beautiful baby girl is just fine. It took about three months, but she came off her final dose of medication the night I delivered this piece to them. It was pretty magical to have been so linked in with the story, as hard as it was.

I would like to finish showing the process of how the piece was made because it was my own little technological marvel. Most of these techniques I made up specifically for this piece, and I will probably use a lot more of them in the future.

 The image of the couple was printed on large scale blacklight film and cut to shape.

 Making sure it fit the stain glass correctly it then got adhered face down onto the large sheet of glass.

The stained glass then got siliconed face down on the glass according to the template.

 Gold leaf was added to all of the negative space that I wanted to appear opaque in the final ligthbox.

 This is itself was a fussy mess. The gold didn't want to adhere evenly and it ended up taking several layers and finally two coats of opaque paint on the back to make sure the light wouldn't penetrate.

 After the baby got out of the hospital the couple brought me all the biological samples and hospital objects that the hospital had allowed them to keep from here extensive stay there. Her umbilical cord went directly in the centre of the piece adhered to the crystal in the centre of the stained glass.

 The initial layer complete, I began lighting testing and work on the lower layer.

 The same image was adhered to a piece of plywood, so that when you looked through the open pieces it would still be the same portrait.

 Hospital objects and crystals were laid in patterns adhered to the back of the wood.

 The two pieces mimic each other, but with the under-layer having a substantially darker undertone.

Lighting gets wired into the light box.

The two pieces get overlaid and the board gets screwed into the back of the piece. 

The stain glass lights up for the very first time!

Final touches are added. Copper foil details get added to the front of the glass. Their wedding vows are wood burnt into the frame. Extra gold leaf is added. The whole front is lacquered. 

 The whole family's hospital bracelets are framed and added to the face of the piece.

After three month of excruciating labour, the artwork is complete.  

 It gets wrapped up to deliver to the family.

 With how big it is, we cannot close the van door during transport, which is terrifying.

 At the end of the day though, everything is safe and sound. Family, baby, and artwork. The epic journey has come to an end. By far one of the most difficult things I have ever made in my entire life.

Photos of the finished product to come soon! 

TaBURNak! the Montreal burner decompression party, is one of those events where we get to come together with a community that we love.

We love all the events that I do, but the Montreal burner scene in particular is one where I get to spend time with people that are truly family.

This year’s event was a total success. Three of my domes were present and each of them was utilized in an incredibly different way.

The Dusty Beavers were present with their dome that they had bought for Burning Man this last year. It was so nice to see one of our Montreal theme camps show up with their installation. They did an experiential space where the participants could enter and experience different sensory activities.

Artist Kendall Malichuk took one of the domes and turned it into an underwater cuddle puddle. You had to crawl into the low cozy space filled with waving seaweed and cozy cushions. The place was packed all night long.

Artist John Lanthier filled yet another dome with dozens and dozens of his hand-drawn hyper-doodlings. The artist collective Eden Creative then activated the space with face painting throughout the evening.

All in all, it was wonderful to see how my domes were used in such different ways throughout the space. They really created containers that each team could take in their own direction.

Thanks again to the wonderful Montreal community for letting us be part of your expression! May we have many more years together to come.

Ministry of the Butterfly is a wonderful art project that tours around the South East. It is headed by Rob Roberts and his daughter Helen who started the project a few years back.

The project is one of those simple yet completely magical installations that takes your breath away. The concept is straightforward. They set up one of our domes, add a little deco, and then fill it with live butterflies.

It was pretty wonderful to see people's reactions as they entered this space. Participants would come in not knowing what to expect, and once they realized what it was the reactions were priceless. People would go from the flurry of activity of someone at a party, to a version of a quiet and awestruck inner child.

Helen Roberts started this project at Transformus a few years back. Her father Rob came to help out with infrastructure one year and it transformed his life. He now takes The Ministry of Butterfly to events all over the South East.

After struggling to make a 3V dome for the butterflies in 2014 he came into contact with our domes. He immediately got on board by the ease of their setup and we've been partnering ever since.

It's so beautiful to see this unique and inspiring way that a client uses one of our domes.

Back at camp we curl up in the shade of our own little personal scout domes. It has been an incredible event and we are so grateful to have brought out infrastructure that people can engage with and enjoy.

It's a good life doing this type of work, and Love Burn is the height of the type of event that we love. We can't wait for next year to do more things bigger and better!

There are times when some of the events that I do just blow my mind. People who aren't a part of this culture don't tend to have the same type of access to what it means for things like this to exist.

The thing that's different about Burner events from other festival culture is that it's completely participant driven. Although some art grants do exist to cover material costs, no one is paid for their time to make work in these types of spaces. It is all donated, every single bit. People do it for the love of art and alternative community, and it's pretty mind blowing.

When you walk around spaces like this you'll often see some of the biggest and best art the world has to offer. Add to that the fact that the artists all did it for free, and you have some of the most magical engaged spaces you could possibly imagine.

A team like

Incendia

truly captures the essence of this type of art. Incendia is a team we've

setup with before

and hope to do more with in the future. This massive all encompassing installation would be impressive to anyone. Add to that the fact that they all do it because they love it, and this gift is a truly stunning contribution to the world at large.

One of the team members told me the story of how it all began. How one day while flipping over a propane fire they noticed the incredible beauty of what happened when the propane got trapped underneath a ceiling that contained it. From this accident, an idea was born. Bigger experiments begot bigger ideas, and soon they started living together on a property so they could keep building.

Now with multiple massive domes, Dj cages, fire poofers, fire performers and hundreds and hundreds of pounds of propane, this team has built up to an installation that is absolutely breath taking. The team has grown into a family, and the commitment to their art does not seem to waiver.

One of the things that I also really appreciate about this team is their understanding of their broader environmental impact. They are all very aware that the type of art they do isn't overly environmentally friendly, and because of that they do what they can to raise awareness about environmental issues.

As stated on their website, "Given Incendia’s unique position in the entertainment and production industry, and the high regard which many of you graciously regard us, we believe our most effective path toward environmental harmony is one of activism and philanthropy towards policy changes and green energy initiatives both here in the United States, and across the world.

While it may be impossible for us to reduce our carbon emissions to zero and continue to bring wonder and joy to those across America and beyond, we have begun to assess where and how we may do the most good."

They go on to state that they commit a percentage of all profits to policy initiatives, research institutes, NGOs, and carbon-offsetting programs on the cutting edge of sustainable energy for the 21st century.

As an artist who is extremely aware of environmental issues, I have often asked the question as to wether or not the societal contributions of making art offset the environmental impact that creating objects has. I continue to choose that it is, and I am always so grateful for other teams out there that not only choose to keep contributing to society in this way, but actively work to offset the environmental impact their projects may have.

It was truly inspiring to be able to contribute is some small way to expanding the footprint of this project.

One of the things we really enjoyed contributing to this space was a little bit of extra shade during the daytime. Incendia is a nighttime stage, but we wanted to engage people during the space a little bit more during the day.

The domes we brought were small, but still offered a wonderful space for small yoga classes, fire toy lessons, and hangouts away from the heat of the day.

As well at night the fabric domes were nice little lampshades that added color to the bigger installation, and offered more intimate hangout space for people to gather and sit around small propane fires.

It was so nice to see our little domes in the presence of Incendia's wonderful project. This team rocked our socks off, personally and professionally, and we will sincerely be looking forward to working more with them in the future.

The thing that I love about working with our team is that we have setup days down to a science. These domes where made to go up so easily and install days with Archimedes are more quick and easeful than any other project I've ever worked on.

These structures were created out of years worth of trials and issues with the common format domes. There were a number of things that we wanted to change so that we could have the beautiful format of a geodesic dome without some of the issues that we were experiencing every install.

The first thing we wanted to address was the speed that domes can be installed at. The common 6V and 3V domes take ages to set up. The Incendia domes that you can see in these photos are that style of dome. They exist for a different type of reason than ours. They're beautiful, structural, and really stable. They're absolutely necessary for the type of project that Incendia does that has to sustain weight.

When you make a dome out of triangles you support the struts in a way that prevents shearing. In very large structures, it is a bad idea to have very long unsupported struts. The longer the struts, the easier they are to bend if shear forces are applied.

Although useful when you need the structure, the biggest problem we had with these types of domes is that they are incredibly labour intensive. Although the final product is structural because the triangles support it in a way that it's fully rigid, the commitment to structure means that you're committing to hours, days, sometimes weeks to install one of these domes. We don't need our domes to support weight. We wanted shade and shelter, and so we searched for an option that would go up and down in way less time.

To make this possible, Archimedes came up with the idea to remove the supporting triangles and just leave in the hexagons and pentagons that make up the essence of the sphere. But If a sphere consists of any quadrilaterals or more complex polygons, they can flex if the connections at the ends are not completely rigid and this creates structural issues. So instead of trying to make the domes rigid, the Archimedes team went the other direction- we made the domes flex.

Like a molecule, these domes breathe. Instead of rigid supports, they are held together through tensile integrity, a type of harnessing system that allows for a natural movement that causes the dome to maintain it's structural integrity. Picture something like a bubble. When you blow a bubble, the surface of it has a natural movement that flexes the pressure points to make it hold together as long as possible. The domes have the same type of principle.

All that nerding aside, the cause of this principle is that the domes go together in a fraction of the time that most domes take, because we don't have to make our connection points rigid. Also, because of this principle, it means that you don't have to use a single tool to put it together. No nuts and bolts, no screws, no anchors. You will never have to pick up a hammer or a screw driver. It all just clicks together because it's allowed to flex.

Another issue with common domes that we wanted to address was the problem of having many different types of parts that you have to keep track of.

If you are making a rigid dome structure, you want the triangles that the structure is composed of to be as close to equilateral triangles as possible so that the stresses will be approximately the same on all the struts. The problem with this is that you then end up with poles of various different lengths, and it can be complicated to keep track of all the different pieces that have to go together.

By cutting out the use of triangles it means that the poles of our domes are all the same size. And because the pentagons and hexagons that make up the structure are an even 2 to 1 ratio, our hubs that connect the struts are exactly the same, with 2 hex angles and 1 pent angle on every hub. That means that every single piece on these domes can literally be changed with any other piece. There's no fussing around or counting or measuring to see which one is which. Every piece is interchangeable.

The thing is, these different domes are made for different purposes. You can't hang or swing off our domes. But when it comes to setting domes up in a matter of minutes instead of hours or days, I'm super grateful that we have these easy up structures to create shade and shelter any time we need it.

It makes install days really, really wonderfully simple.

Heading down the road to Love Burn, Miami, our very first Burn of the season. Not the shortest drive to do for our first trip of the year, but still not even close to driving across the country for Burning Man every fall.

The trip was a little longer than it could've been as we needed to stop in Atlanta to get some gear from our team in Georgia. After a 13 hour drive we finally get to Atlanta to meet up with Nico and Sara, who are a solid part of our team in the South East.

Sara walked into the Archimedes BM camp in 2013 and never left us. She moved to Atlanta in 2014 for medical residency and quickly fell in with Georgia burners, especially those that plan Alchemy. Sara introduced us to Love Burn where she acted as medical lead in it's second year, and she encouraged us to come. She introduced us to Nico- one of the most mechanically minded people ever- and Nico has been helping Archimedes in the SE ever since. They ran our theme camp at Transformus last year while we set up at Gratitude Migration and they will do that again this year. They will also be joining us in Black Rock city this year as well. They are a vital part of our team and family that help us expand our footprint across North America.

After getting what we need from them and snatching a couple hours of sleep, we're on the road again before daybreak to try to get to Miami to install before the sun goes down.

The drive is beautiful, with our team settling into watching the scenery and listening to podcasts and good music.

We hit Florida and the jackets and sweaters begin to peel off. We have entered the land of perpetual summer.

It's hard to believe that just a couple short days ago we were spray painting our gear in the snow and winter jackets.

The land stretches out in front of us as we truck our way to our final destination.

As soon as we arrive, the very first thing we see on the land is one of our domes! Set up by Ministry of the Butterfly, this project is a stunning example of something that can be built from the base that we offer. More on their project to come later.

We check in and find where we need to be. The sun is going down and it looks like we may have to wait for full setup until the morning.

We find the Incendia domes to drop off the project at. They're not difficult to spot. A couple stories high, the compound dwarfs most else on the field.

Our domes will be one small added touch to the massive installation that they bring out to this festival.

As the sun goes down we find a spot to hang our hat, with another New York collective that's already set up camp.

Although not the most ideal, it's still incredibly simple to set up these domes, even in the darkness.

The domes enclose us as the sky gets dark and we rest, ready to get up bright and early for our install day tomorrow.

None of us can believe how early the season is starting this year. But starting it is, so it's time to crawl out of our winter hibernation and start making orders for people getting ready for upcoming festivals.

Our first real project of the year is a collaboration with Incendia, an incredible artist team from Georgia.

Incendia makes unreal domes of fire that inspire all who enter into them. As they say on their website. "The essence of Incendia lies in a unique manipulation of flame near it's zenith. Combusting gas is trapped beneath a fire-proof ceiling to cast a warm, illuminating glow downwards, captivating the fascination of all those below. This effect provides an unparalleled ambience for gatherings large and small." Unparalleled indeed, and we are honoured to be able to offer a small contribution to this teams incredible project.

Our contribution to their project would be two domes that matched their aesthetic. Just a couple places of shade and gathering that people could use during the day to pair the use that the Incendia domes get during the night time.

We decided to go with maroon shade stars with just a hint of silver detailing. All the framing would be painted black to match the Incendia domes.

It was a day of chilly spray painting in the cool and grey Brooklyn weather. Halfway through the day it started snowing. Not ideal for spray paint, but it had to get done.

Hard to believe that in just a couple days we would be out of the snow and playing on a beach in the sun!

The detailing is coming along and we start packing all the things we need for the four domes we'll be bringing out.

This is such a small instal compared to many of them that we do, and the job goes quickly and easily. It's nice to be back at these tasks and working as a team again.

Another task that needs to get done is figuring out new artistic looks for clients that want their domes refinished for the coming season.

Toby and I head to Spandex house, where every type of pattern you can imagine is lying on their shelves.

The possibilities are endless, and if you can't find what you want, they'll print it for you. One of the things that Archimedes will be doing in this upcoming season is creating custom art that you can skin the dome with.

Soon we find the look that we're searching for. We'll take the samples and draw up a sketch of the format for our client.

The next task, finding cool fabrics to create a custom insulated dome for a client that wants to do a festival in Canada in May.

Toby and Michael did a bunch of testing with insulating and living in domes for a few months last fall, and warm domes is something we'd like to have on the market this year.

With a few days of tasks for our clients accomplished, it's time to start packing the truck to head down to Miami for

Love Burn

.

All packed up and ready to go! Prepared to commence the long drive from Brooklyn to Miami. Let the season begin!

There are some things in life that you just can’t prepare for and the birth of Luotta, whose name means trust, was one of them. 

Previous part of the story here.

I got back to Montreal in full gear to start the portrait commission for S&S that I has been prepared for. As I came into town I got my first picture of the new sparkly baby girl. I was so thrilled about their new daughter. I texted back my congratulations and heard… nothing. Assuming that the new parents were just dealing with their first stressful days of tending to a new being, I didn’t worry too much. I went about printing the cartoon for the piece and prepping my studio for the glasswork that was to come. 

Four days later I got a text. “The photo I sent you was sent out about 30 minutes before my darling little girl started having seizures,” it read. “She was quickly transferred to the children’s neonatal intensive care unit, and the nightmare began. She was having seizures from Saturday around noon until Sunday at 7, quite steadily, despite multiple different meds. It’s a bit of a blur now, but I remember those endless hours being a sort of horror story, and just wishing I would wake up to a different reality.” The text went on to say that the seizures had eventually stopped with medication, but that they weren’t sure as to the cause, as to if they would continue, or if little Luotta had suffered any permanent brain damage.

I was horrified. Sitting in my studio surrounded by images of the excited and pregnant S&S, the idea that they might lose the baby was more than I could comprehend. Everything about their journey had lead up to this point, what if they lost her?

That was the day I made my first trip to the glass store. I had planned for that to be the day I did it, and I didn’t have another time for it. Suddenly an emotional wreak, I was standing in a store where I had to buy the material that would make a piece talking about Luotta’s birth. And all I could think was, what if it ends up being a piece about her death?

Surrounded by countless choices, a partner was there with me helping me find the glass that would make up the piece. As I was standing in the middle of the store he walked up to me with this sheet of glass that immediately brought tears to my eyes. 

Blood read and dripping with pigment, the sheet of glass looked like someone had cut their veins open into the hot glass. He brought more to me, sheets that looked like muscle, tissue, body. Standing in the store and trying not to openly sob, I was hit with what it means to be a physical human. To have these fragile bodies of ours be the only thing that keeps us on this earthly plain. If just one small part of us fails, the whole body is incapable of carrying on. That spirit that S&S did so much work to bring onto this earthly realm may have come into a body that might not allow her to carry on.

I bought every visceral body like piece of glass that made me cry. I walked them all home, and I sobbed the whole way. I just wasn’t sure what to do. If I had a child who died, would I want an art piece that reminded me of that process every single day? Should I stop? Should I not cut anything until I knew that baby Luotta was okay?

As I walked into my studio I decided that I would carry on. That baby Luotta deserved to be forever engraved on an artwork, no matter how long her stay on earth may be. Wether or not S&S wanted the piece at the end of it was irrelevant. I would make it because it needed to be made. 

On the desk of my studio was sitting this beautiful crystal I had found weeks before anything had began. Pink and womb-like, it would be the centrepiece for the entire object. I placed the pieces of blood glass on the desk beside it, and began to draw. 

For weeks I would draw and then throw things out and then draw some more. And when I wasn’t drawing I was staring into space wishing I knew what to draw. The whole process felt like coughing up a hairball, trying to pull something out of my insides that just wouldn’t budge. The only thing I could think of was that if the baby didn’t make it, this would be the piece that would remember her forever. It was the most terrifying feeling I have every felt in my whole life. To try to represent a child who may not live more than a couple weeks, to try to represent the whole process that brought her into the world, the whole idea of it was just horrible. 

As the weeks went on, more information trickled in from S&S about the state of their child. “Luotta is such a miraculous and precious little creature. So sweet and soft. So strong and brave. She's not fussy. She communicates pretty clearly when she's uncomfortable, and responds to our efforts to figure out her distress. She makes delightful little grunts and squeaks. We have been able to start holding her again since a couple of nights (previously, we had to suffice with just touching her while she lay in the "Isolette", a kind of incubator). We are catching up on missed cuddle time, smothering her with hugs and kisses, squishing her little face…”

…”Luotta keeps exceeding our expectations in every way. She keeps improving, ahead of schedule. They will tell us to expect a certain change to happen in the next 2-3 days, and she does it in one. She's such a strong and resilient little creature. It helps that she's getting the mother load of love, prayers, and support from around the planet. Love heals. Believe it…”

…”We have been through more than I thought I could bear, yet I'm feeling quite strong, hopeful, and full of love. Our little Luotta has reminded me of my purpose, and the truth of who I am, who we all are, at our core... Love. She has become my lighthouse. She has helped me to find my way home…”

And as the weeks went on, more things got made. More glass got cut in, more ideas discarded and fixed. 

The image changed, again and again. I wanted to represent the main portion of the body as being the energetic flow that brought the life into the world. An image coalesced and started to take form. Everything was a struggle, nothing flowed easily. But as the baby began to get stronger, the piece began to take shape.

The stain glass portion took longer than I ever thought that it would. Something I had scheduled a couple weeks for was taking a couple months. And a piece I had planned to be no bigger than 20 inches tall, was now almost 50”. Nothing about the piece was what I had planned for it to feel like, but nothing about this birth was what any of us had planned for. 

The piece grew as Luotta grew. The art of it became more stable as she did. She became healthier and healthier every day. Although still on medication, she seemed out of the woods as each new week revealed something more encouraging. 

I have never in my life experienced the intensity of what it meant to be making this piece at the same time as the incident was happening. To be creating artwork out of immediate tragedy was one of the most difficult practices I have ever encountered. To process something as it was occurring and put it into a permanent artwork was harder than I have words to convey. Every day I just had to trust that there was something outside of myself that would channel through me to help me with the process.

Soon it would be time to meet the baby. And soon it would be time to meet up with S&S to hear their process of what had just happened. 

More to come…

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #212121; -webkit-text-stroke: #212121} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #212121; -webkit-text-stroke: #212121; min-height: 14.0px} span.s1 {color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: 0px #000000} span.s2 {font-kerning: none}

Last fall I had an extremely large sculpture that I was commissioned to make for a couple I know quite well. The piece itself was going to be a massive undertaking, we knew that from the start. But when we began, none of us could have been prepared for what it would mean to be making an artwork about this particular time in their lives. The process ended up being one of the most intense and emotionally engaged things I have ever done. I’m only now beginning process what happened and deal with some of the emotion behind it.

When we decided to undertake this piece in the first place, it wasn’t supposed to be a three month, emotionally charged catharsis of the tragedy that was about to happen. But, as divine timing would have it, this artwork would be created exactly the time it was needed.

When this couple decided to commission a work, it was intended to be in line with the series of work that I’m producing for my upcoming show in March. The show is one of stain glass portraiture, and focuses on the divine processes that human beings engage with. Initially the idea for the show was to be individual portraits of human beings set in stain glass, who are shown as a deified version of themselves. Sacred writings are full of stories and parables of what the gods and prophets went through, and the intent of the show was to show the human struggle being linked with that sense of divinity. The thesis of the show has changed by this point, but this commission was going to be the first in the series I was making for the exhibition. 

The piece for this couple, (we’ll call them S&S here for the sake of expediency,) was supposed to be about their own divine process of conceiving a child. The story of S&S by this point had already been somewhat of an epic. From opposite sides of the world, the had met at a conference the both had flown to somewhere else in the world. They met each other and decided this was it, and five days later they were married. Through the trials and tribulations of trying to make a relationship work while relocating to opposite sides of the world, through the struggles they met head on with getting to know one anothers deepness while already being committed to each other, this couple is truly a testament to what it means to make something work.

Years later they decided to take the next step on their journey. They decided to conceive a child together. In the most intentional way possible, they changed their lives and habits in order to conceive, all the while intentionally calling down the new spirit that was supposed to be in their lives.

I found the process they went through to create a new life deeply in touch with the divine, and I was inspired to make a portrait of them coming together to make this new life. To me I saw their inner goddess and god who had gone on this journey to come together and make space to host a new little divine human in the world.

The image I had in my head was one of the many armed gods and goddesses of Hinduism and Buddhism, whose many appendages and attributes come together to create one divine being with many facets. I felt like S&S had come together and aligned their lives and purposes to make something even stronger that could now hold and create another sacred being.

The first thing that had to be done was a portrait session with them both to create the image that I would base the stain glass off of. The portrait session was fun, although a bit shy. There was lots of laughter and experimental posing. The whole day was filled with the excitement of a couple about to become a family. With the shots I’d wanted, S&S took me out for brunch, and we had a wonderful day.

Although I was in the midst of travelling for the festival season, the shots soon coalesced into the portrait I wanted in stain glass. Soon after the stain glass cartoon followed and I was prepped with the images to base the piece off of. 

I would return to Montreal just as they were due to give birth, and I would begin cutting in glass as the baby was born. Everything seemed like it was going as planned. But we could never have been prepared for the process that was to come…

More to follow.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}

Bare Children Virgin Exhibition

Concordia Masters Open Doors

2014

I’ve done a fair amount of work in stain glass because I love the religious connotation that is has. The themes in my work often coalesce around a discussion of current religious space, and the desire to create a new one, which I feel is indicative of an upcoming generation.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica}

Growing up in a non-inclusive and often oppressive traditional religious environment, I have come to see a new wave of individuals arise who are focused on the universal truths of spirituality, rather than practicing established religion.

 My practice is therefore interested in experimenting with taking established ritual and religion and creating new spiritual spaces. Practicing as somewhat of a religious poacher, I take ideas and concepts from various worldwide religious spaces and make something that is unique to a new generation.

Currently I am interested in ideas of the human being as deity, exploring what happens when I put myself and others into the worshiping space often reserved for gods. I am also interested in the use and appropriation of traditional religious materials to make new commentary and objects.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 12.0px Arial}

The most recent work experiments with moving machinery and light, is attempting to address the idea that spirituality is not fixed, and its practice is ever changing.

The gears and the rotating imagery talk about the continued motion of ideas as they are seen as truth and lie. The light that's projected through them not only gives an etherial quality to the imagery, but also allows for the viewer to be implicated in changing what images are present. As well the shifting and changing of these pieces relates to the tenuousness of spiritual space, as the individual works at understanding the practice of incorporating something greater than ourselves into the body.

For in process of this work, go

here

. 

A lot of this is work from a while ago now, but I’m still in the process of making pieces like this in my studio, so I thought I’d show some of the beginnings.

I make work in stained glass because I love the religious connotation that stained glass holds. As someone who grew up in an oppressive religious space, I am interested in how to shift the dogma around religion in order to grasp the underlying universal truth that you can pick out of every religious space.

But, when I started working in stained glass, something didn’t quite work for me. I love the look of it, and I love the practice of putting unexpected content in a traditional space, but the final result still felt a little too stagnant for me.

In shows such as

The Family Project

or

The Whore Series

, I couldn’t help by feel that the glass solidified concepts that I desired would remain fluid.

And so I decided that I wanted to make my stained glass move. I wanted it to feel that, through the use of light and moveable parts, the pieces would feel a little bit more open. I wanted them to feel like they were continually changing.

I’ve been later cutting gear pieces and hooking them up to motors. These mobile objects then get put into light boxes that I’m making from stained glass and back light portraiture. 

The portraits are cut through so that you can see the moving gear work behind. 

As well, biological matter and artifacts are placed at different levels in the light boxes.

The experimentation process for this has been going on for the last couple years, and I’m still not completely happy with how things are turning out. But I thought I’d show you a little bit of the process.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica}

More to come! 

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}

 Marche Noir was Montreal's every first "night market," an event where any participant could rent a truck, fill the truck with whatever art or event they wanted, and then drive the truck to a secret location where each truck would open their doors to other participants.

 Our team made a rainforest truck (setup day

here

), a cozy plounge that people could come in to escape the cold of the evening.

 It turned out beautifully, the cold box truck completely disguised by the myriade of fake plant life and sparkly lighting.

 We were glad for the warmth of the truck, and throughout the night the truck was filled with happy people snuggling away the cold.

The rest of the trucks were wonderful as well. We got 5 trucks out in total, which we thought was a great amount for the fact that it was the first time for a secret event. 

Photo by Gary Barbon

Photo by Matthew B William

Photo by Gary Barbon

One of the other trucks had a tea service for people to come get cozy at. 

Photo by Gary Barbon

Doctor SpankEasy's Terrible Carnival of Reward and Punishment had a bunch of games the participants could play.

Photo by Gary Barbon

Photo by Gary Barbon

Photo by Gary Barbon

Photo by Gary Barbon

Wheel of Pipefittings was a gameshow where you had to fit together pipefittings to win. 

Photo by Matthew B William

Photo by Gary Barbon

 The winner got to keep their pipefittings. The loser got... a potato.

Photo by Gary Barbon

My favourite truck was a first date truck, a truck where you had to find someone to take on a first date. They served amazing Italian food. 

Photo by Matthew B William

Photo by Matthew B William

Photo by Matthew B William

 It even came with questions you had to ask to get to know your date!

Photo by Matthew B William

Photo by Matthew B William

Photo by Matthew B William

Marche Noir was such a fun an original idea! I was really grateful to be a part of such a wonderful event. Even during the event I heard so many participants talk about what they would do for a truck if we held it again. 

 Thanks to the organizers and everyone who participated!

One of the super fun projects I did in October was participating in Marche Noir, the very first “night market,” ever to be held in Montreal.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica}

The night market is a concept that started in Boston and has moved to several cities around North America. The concept is simple. Anyone who wants to participate in the market is responsible to rent their own truck and they fill the truck with whatever sort of art installation or event they want. The owners of the truck are then given the information for where the night market will be held. The trucks are driven to whatever street it’s held on and they open the backs of the truck for participants to enter and experience the art.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica}

It’s a super fun event that is based completely on participation. Anyone who wants to can register to bring a truck, and no one knows the location unless they’re on a truck team or invited by a team. It makes for a small, fun event where everyone invited is a participant. The trucks aren't all created at the small location and so the trucks that show up are a complete surprise. Add to that the fact that it’s a pop up space that could get shut down at any time, and you have just a little extra excitement at the fact that you’re not sure how long it’ll exist for.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica}

Our truck team was made up of me, Kevin Flynn and Luc de Montigny. We knew that the evening would be really cold that night, and we wanted to make a plounge truck that felt like you were stepping out of the cold into a warm earthy rainforest.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica}

  We decorated the truck with funky fabric, camo netting, and tons of fake vines.

 A little bit of help from some excited kids who loved the idea.

 Foam fungi were attached to the walls

 Lighting was strung at create a great ambiance.

 The floor was padded and cushions were added for comfy sitting.

 The truck all setup we were ready to close the door and drive to the secret location!

 More pictures of the event to come.

"An interactive terror maze of psychological warfare, HauntTO feels like stepping into a real life horror movie. Packed with real scares and the unexpected, things change shape, walls move, you have to touch things and feel your way through a shape-shifting maze of horror. You'll be scared sh#%@less.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 16.0px; font: 14.0px Helvetica; color: #4a4f56; -webkit-text-stroke: #4a4f56} span.s1 {font-kerning: none}

Featuring a pre-experience users can opt into when they buy their tickets, players receive a text from an unknown number that leads them through a twisting hunt, revealing clues to who’s locked in the terror maze they're about to enter. Nothing is softened for childhood audiences, this haunted attraction is adults only (18+)." http://hauntto.com/

Starting with an entryway of a decrepit hotel, you enter into the warehouse of your nightmares.

The feeling of the entryway is something that used to be nice, but has been let go. The staff is polite but distant and strange.

The walls are aged with time, and the objects are things that used to be beautiful but are currently in a state of decay.

As you look around the room, there are subtle things that let you know that the situation is not quite right. Wallpaper covering holes that shouldn't be there,

creepy objects like too many Julia Roberts magazines,

and if you look deep in the corners, there are hints of the death that await you beyond this entry. 

The first place you'll go after you buy your tickets at the hotel registry is into the antechamber. A dark, dingy room where you will sit with a few of the other participants to listen to a track that will set the scene and story for what you are about to experience.

As the story wraps up, a curtain will pull back from the wall and let you into a dark maze. You will have to run through a series of traps, climbing over things, walls that touch you, dead end hallways, with a monster that chases you.

One of the rooms is the "squish room," a room that you'll get funnelled into, trapped with the rest of your comrades.

As you try and find your way out of the room, the large wall will inch closer and closer to you, threatening to squish the life right out of you.

If you are able to make it out of this room alive, you will continue on into the maze of horrors, where you will eventually meet the monster of your nightmares.

At the very back of the building, you will find a room that could make any skin crawl.

The playroom and torture chamber of a demented creature who just wants you to "play with it."

Trapped in the room with your greatest fear, you will have to find your way out by crawling through a hole in the floor that will lead you to your salvation.

If you're lucky, you won't end up on one of the monster's trophy shelves...

HauntTO was created and produced by a Noble Sky Project. 

Building and infrastructure by MakeShift Collective. 

Set design by Kevin Flynn and Jodi Sharp.

Story and pre-experience design by Kyle White and Kwame. 

Volunteer coordination by Sofia Timkovski.

Marketing by Paddy Jane.

For the in-process look at this project, go here.

This fall has been one nuts thing after another, and I feel like I’m holding on by the skin of my teeth. There are so many projects that have happened in the last few months, and I am backlogged with all the documentation that I haven’t had time to edit and post. But now, with a few days over the Christmas holidays, I finally have just a wee bit of time to get some things up.

So we’ll head back in time, all the way back to the beginning of October, which by now seems like a very far way away indeed.

One of the amazing things about my life is that I do contract work, which means that I’m often getting to do something completely different contract to contract. Although this lifestyle isn't the most secure, it's definitely interesting, and this October was no different. I headed out to Toronto where I had gotten a gig with HauntTO, a company that manufactures a different haunted house every year.

Although I’ve done lots of space design and specialty painting, a haunted house was definitely something new, and I was excited to try my hand creating a really different environment than I’m used to.

 The space that we had to make the scene was a huge garage. Already full of stuff, the first job was to clear the space and make way for building in all of the different rooms and mazes that the public would run through.

The first space that we began to set up was the entry. The first thing that the attendees would see, we wanted the entry to feel like a creepy run down hotel. With the build crew throwing up some walls so we could begin, I started wallpapering and staining the surface of the space.

It was really fun to work on a scene where the aesthetic was dirty and grimy. Normally the type of work I do needs to appear really clean and pristine, and it was fun to use techniques that were shooting for the opposite. 

 Many of the objects and details we used in the space were rusted out things we had found in the garage. The real rust and run down aspect of them added the perfect feeling we were going for.

 One of the great things about this project was that there was a full build crew employed to build the spaces that I needed to treat. That meant that by the time I was finished one space, there would be some new aspect ready to be created. I really enjoyed being able to focus only on the aesthetics of the projects, rather than on building walls and platforms.

 At the back of the space a full elevated room was built. The space would be the final "scare," the place in the maze where the participants are ushered into the "monster's playroom," a creepy bedroom and torture chamber where the public would come face to face with the scary monster that had been chasing them through the maze.

 The walls were wallpapered and spray painted to feel dingy and confining.

 I cemented the floor so that the room would feel like a dark scary basement.

 I had a lovely afternoon of smashing and dirtying children's toys that would be props for the playroom.

 These went up on dirty and rusted shelves that had come from the original garage.

 Tools and other rusted accoutrements were covered in dirt and fake blood and hung on the walls.

 And all the while the awesome build crew kept making more walls and maze hallways.

 Another one of the major "scare" rooms, was the "squish room". A small room that had a moveable wall that could squish the participants.

 The participants would enter through a door that would close and lock behind them. Then the big wall would start to move towards them, pushed by the staff that was running the maze.

 The wall would squish into people until, at the last minute, a hatch would open at the bottom of the wall that people could climb through and escape.

 I wanted it to look like people had been squished in the room before, and so in order to get that effect, I filled a bunch of balloons with fake blood and tacked them to the wall.

 One of the fun breaks for the build crew was when we stopped everyone on site to come push the squish wall and pop all the balloons so that they splattered against the wall.

 It got an excellent effect, with the fake blood on the solid wall and the squish wall matching each other's splatters.

 I continued to make props and effects, and the build crew continued to build, build, build.

 So close to the end, with some of the last walls in the space going up.

True to old builders tradition, the build crew signed one of the last walls before I covered it in wallpaper. Everyone had worked so hard and created an amazing space in just a couple of weeks. 

Some of the final touches, and my work on site comes to an end, leaving the builders to finish all the spaces that don't need an artist's touch. 

A fun and unusual project! More pictures of the finished spaces to come. 

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}

One day in 2013, a man walked into our camp with his camera asking about our domes. "Who built this? What is this called? How do I make one?" He then awarded us something he called

The Golden Rebar Award

, his own personal award for designers at the Burn, which he awards on the merits of creativity, design and architectural breakthrough. Thus began our friendship with this interesting and forward-looking man.

Because there is not one answer to the numerous environmental challenges present in the Black Rock Desert, a lot of participants come up with many valuable and forward-looking solutions to accommodate life where it is impossible. Year after year, Black Rock City organically sets itself as a unique testing ground for individual or collective structures. The city itself is an ever vibrant laboratory for daring creators looking in different directions to solve the equation of a simply built, extremely resistant, not too expensive and easy to haul shelter.

The result of this urban exploration and documentation is Philippe’s

blog, two books and these Golden Rebars that, hopefully, inspire and encourage others to continue their explorations.

Philippe’s obsession with the desert started in 1990. As a young man he had signed up to be on a team that crossed the Sahara desert to bring cars to Niger. At the time it was one of the only ways to get cars into that part of Africa, and the indestructible french cars, with one driver per car, had to cross some of the most dangerous terrain in less than 5 days. At the time civil war was just beginning in Algeria and the lean, mean and fast team had to cross the volatile territory as well as the dead zone in the Sahara. If your car broke down you were on your own and only the most daring people would attempt this trip. Philippe did this trip 3 times that year, until the civil war in Algeria made it utterly impossible to pass. And thus began his fascination with the desert.

The Temple of Transition

A year later Philippe left France to improve his english at Berkley, and he saw a picture of a large wooden structure in the middle of a barren landscape. He had no idea what it was, but the image stuck in his head. He wondered in what desert in the world people would be building structures like that. Four years later while in San Fransisco he saw a flyer with the same image and bought a ticket on the spot. With no idea of what he was getting into, Philippe rented a car and drove to the middle of nowhere to begin the start of what would end up becoming his yearly pilgrimage.

Illumination Village

In those days, Black Rock City wasn’t nearly as popular or regulated as it is now. The internet hadn’t yet caught on and you couldn’t just google what you were getting into. As Philippe drove off the last of the real road and into desert territory, he saw a man emerging out of the dust. Unlike today, there were no road signs or barriers. The guy told him to drive 10 miles straight ahead, then take a right turn, then drive another 4 miles. And then Philippe drove off into the playa, into the dust, with the sudden knowledge that he was driving back into barrenness. And he had only brought a couple bags of potato chips.

The Lost Tea Party

Then suddenly he saw some tents emerging. It was an almost barren desert with campers here and there. At the time there were no barriers or trash fence, and due to the loud music of some of the campers arriving he decided to make his camp miles away from the centre of the city.

Tectonic and Friends

He had thought was ready for the desert life, but really fast he realized the difference. Unlike driving through the Sahara was no longer moving. There was no airflow from the car, no movement. Here he was static, and suddenly realized that he was not at all prepared for that. He had a couple water bottles, two bags of potato chips, no bike, unreliable shoes. At the time it was more of a long weekend, and he spent the next 3 days surviving.

Liquid Sky Camp

At the end of the weekend when he “escaped” the desert he said “oh my god, I made it alive.” Driving back to San Fran with a car filled with dust he decided that next year he would come back and do it better. In retrospect he says, “It was the best year.”

Kostume Kult

Thus began the yearly pilgrimage. Step by step, year after year he set about improving his living condition. With no internet forums like there are today the improvements had to be figured out all by himself. Every summer he was taking camping supplies and improving upon them. Had no idea how to build something and this is how he got into this architectural quest.

Red Lightning Camp

With this new obsession of learning how to build he decided to document what other builders were doing and making. He began to take pictures of random camps so that he could see how others were doing it. He soon had hundreds of pictures of the original architecture of hundreds of different building styles and ideas.

The Pallet Palace

In 2004 Steven Raspa told him that he should keep focusing on the typology of shelters. The majority of photographers at the Burn focus on portraits or the art on the playa, but almost no one takes pictures of the structures of the actual city. It’s the diversity of the city that makes it amazing, and he should keep focusing on the designers that are building something different.

The Chiton

By 2007 he had started his blog as a meeting point for people to see and discuss building their spaces. So many of the other burner forums were scattered and unfocused and he wanted to create a place where people could learn and discuss how to do shelters better. All year he would blog, getting ideas ready to test on the playa. And then for two weeks a year he would roam Black Rock City streets looking for new ideas and meetings designers.

Celtic Chaos

And that’s when he met us. In 2013 he saw a bright structure that was different from something he’d seen every other year. So right away he came to find the designers. Since that time we’ve been touching base, thrilled to find someone else who shared our obsession with structures and design.

Michael of Archimedes Design, 2014

By 2010 Philippe had 10-15 years of BRC images. While back in France for a New Years Eve party over too much wine, a friend dared him to make a book within the year. And so the first version of The Ephemeral Architecture of Burning Manwas born. Over that year on a shoestring budget he worked with a designer to make this initial release, but the work wasn’t up to the standard he wanted it to be. Due to the short timeline and small budget the book had mistakes in layout and captions, and forgot to mention a lot of things that needed addressing. The translations from French weren’t great and the designer didn’t know how to work with US design standards. Despite all this though, the book was a hit. And when he was down to his last few copies of the printing, Philippe vowed to make a better version.

With a better design, %100 accurate data, better images, more pages, a good cover and a flow to the book, Philippe had finally created his very own guide for how to build a shelter on the playa. For virgins or veterans, it was something you could use to improve your Black Rock City experience. With a large network of people who follow his blog, several good write ups and a design award in Graphic Design USA, he hoped that he would soon be able to sell this book out as well. But much to his surprise, it was a bust. Slow sales, slow interest, it was entirely unexpected.

Camp Do More Now

When I asked him why he thought this was, he immediately went into the changes that he’s seen at Black Rock over the years. The stats for the playa these days is that 40% of yearly attendees are virgins. 70% have only started coming in the last 3-4 years, making a population that is relativity new, and sometimes seems more interested in having a good time than in the building or creation. They don’t have too much time to get lost in the city, but the main point of interest is the playa. Because of the photos online it’s becoming a bucket list item for a lot of people. More and more people want to go there, party, say they had that experience.

Camp Reiki

Phillips makes a comparison of the pictures of the first years. In the early 90’s people came with cars, tents, old school RVs in bad shape and built the majority of their structures. Most people were building their shelter from scratch. There were not a lot of RVs or campers. Now there’s a trend towards having giant RVs because it’s the easiest way to do it. It seems that people are desiring to do less work, be more comfortable. In photos from the last few years there are thousands and thousands of these pre-made structures. This year Philippe said that it was a struggle to take pictures of camps and new designs, and that even the new structures were surrounded by campers.

Circus Combustus

Every single year for the last 15 Philippe has camped in the exact same spot as his own little performance piece. His camp footprint always staying the same, while the city eternally changed around him. But recently, instead of interesting new creations, he has been backed on all sides by RVs.

Cloud Extruded

For Philippe, this is an end of an era. He has decided to finish

sales of his book

by December 15th, and end this quest of documenting the ephemeral architecture of Burning Man.

Institute Village

We never know where the cultural evolution of Black Rock may head, that’s part of what makes it so great. But for all of us who make our life about the building and exploration of new structures, the end of this pillar’s quest is sad one.

Thank you so much to Philippe Glade for all your years of service and contributions. Your vision will be missed. Please head to his website to

purchase a copy

of The Ephemeral Architecture of Burning Man before December 15th.

The event of After Burn was an excellent success with video projections on domes from VJ UserZero and Michelson Britt.

The turnout at Village Pied-du-Courant was wonderful. Many known faces from the Montreal burner community as well as many new faces as well.

Despite the chill in the air, spirits were high. Good conversations, good music and lots of dancing.

Working with VJ UserZero again was wonderful. It’s always so much fun the play with light on the domes.  

It’s wonderful to work with someone that projects in live time. You can ask him to do anything and watch as he uses his custom made software to bring your vision to life.

An unexpected and welcome addition during the middle of the night was an interactive projection by Michelson Britt. He came up to me during the middle of the evening asking if I would mind if he projected in the other dome. The answer was a resounding, “Please do!” and we spent the next hour rigging together a makeshift projection hanger.

The resulting installation filled the inside of the dome with a nova-like light, and as you walked through it, it would mimic your movements and change the pattern.

Having both of the domes lit up during the event was wonderful. The moods of the domes were each completely unique due to the different types of projection methods and movement of the light.

I had several interactions with participants who were just awestruck by the projected imagery. It was extremely mesmerizing to watch, and throughout the night there were large numbers of people who would just lay down and engage with the projections.

By midnight the event was over, and we started the middle of the night teardown. Tired but satisfied, it was definitely worth having these domes up to play with at this event.

Last weekend I was invited to install at Montreal’s Village Pied-du-Courant.

The Village at Pied-du-Courant is a festive and unifying collective space built with the support of the local community and many collaborators. Running during the summer months, it’s a yearly pop-up beach full of permanent and temporary art installations that have quickly become a staple of summer activities in Montreal. It seeks to provide a showcase for artists, as well as to give a genuine area of life for the citizens of the community.

For their last Friday of the season, Pied-du-Courant wanted to reach out to the burner community that was just trickling back into the city after their yearly pilgrimage. They invited all burners and creative and festive spirits to a decompression party. They wanted to transform their beach into the atmosphere of the playa with interactive installations, performances, visuals and live painting.

Archimedes was invited out to do another collaboration with

Vj UserZero

, who I’d collaborated with at

L’OsstidBurn

earlier this year. It was exciting to be able to set up for more dome projections. The Village was the ideal layout for more projections on the dome.

Setup day was beautiful weather, although you could start to feel the nip in the air that says that fall is fast approaching.

Despite the discovery of some missing pieces, and some repairs that needed to be made, the first dome went up quickly, looking beautiful and very at home in the playa-like environment.

I decided to leave off a portion of the outer panels, drop the dome a level and put in an inner tent. I wanted to see kinds of surfaces I could make on the outside for VJ UserZero to project on.

The whole thing was finished off with Courtney Lush’s canvas on the ground, making a homey and beautiful resting spot for people to lounge in.

With the projection dome set up we moved on to the second dome which would be set up as a hangout spot on the back of the dance floor.

The sun was beautiful as the afternoon got later. The skyline of Montreal in the background giving a wonderful anchor to this stunning site.

We were only given 2 hours to set up before the site opened, and soon attendees started to trickle in. It felt very burner-esque to be building a structure as the party began. It definitely gave a true playa feel.

Soon we were finished and the structures were ready. The nice thing about being in the middle of the city was being able to run home, clean up, eat a real meal and be back in time for darkness to set in. A nice break from living on festival sites al summer.

As the sun went down, the excitement set in to see the dome projected on again, and for the people of Montreal to experience a little bit of the true burner spirit!