Rage Against The Night: we begin

Tonight is the Art Committee meeting for Alchemy, Georgia’s regional burn. I will not be able to attend due to a social engagement, but I do need to submit working drawings, etc., for my Large Art Burn [LAB], Rage Against the Night. (The theme of Alchemy this year is Lighting the Void.)

My original idea involved pine saplings, 5–6-foot pieces, sharpened at either end like toothpicks, arranged in rows like palisades, and multiple palisades arranged in some menacing maw kind of configuration.

In a nearby tent, burners would be invited to write something about their particular trauma/shadow on a piece of paper, fold it up, and then drive it between the saplings with wooden wedges left over from the sharpening. As the burn went on, the fearful monster of the sculpture would be overwhelmed with “slings and arrows,” and on Sunday afternoon night, we burn it.

I’ve played around with small cardboard maquettes but haven’t really done any math, until today. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Faced with having to collect (i.e., chop down) all the saplings I’ll need, I’ve simplified the sculpture to three segments. I’ll lay the sapling pieces side by side (width calculated from the base of the arc) then macramé them with sisal rope.

Each segment will then curve into its arched shape as it is attached to the base frame. The base frame will have rope handles built into it BECAUSE YOU GUYS: Ernie, Art Lead for the burn, wants to tote the whole thing over to the Temple, which is shaped like a giant angler fish, and position it in the gaping maw of the fish. How cool is that? I get to be a part of Temple burn!

Next up: Budgeting for all this. Rope, paper, markers, signage.