I will be participating in the Fire Sculpture portion of the Silver Skate Festival again this year! I will be creating – and burning! my piece for this year’s event on Sunday February 16th. It’s a fun and exciting event; making work that I know will be consumed by fire at the end of the day has such a liberating and cathartic feeling to it. You can find a site map for the festival here.
It’s a great opportunity too to engage fully in the physical aspects of art-making. There’s real immediacy to making work outdoors, in the winter weather … to say the least.
But in other ways too: the materials are limited to various forms of brushwood and scrap milled pieces, some straw (for fire fuel) and a bit of fabric (for drama and colour). There are specific restrictions on the fasteners we use too (wire and natural twine only) to hold the work together – this, for safety’s sake in the aftermath of the burn (ever step on a nail or screw? I don’t recommend it!), and so that there are no nasty fumes given off when the sculptures go up in flames. So – there are design challenges, the physical challenges around making the work, and the emotional challenge of letting go of what you make almost as soon as it’s done.
Pushing limits and letting go.
Great lessons — and GREAT fun too.
I hope to see some of you there!
sounds great Sydney… I am also participating in a sculpture biennale next month where I am performing a pit firing on the beach – should be fun!
Thanks Dawn!~ I am anticipating a really great day. Congrats on the sculpture bienniale! That should be a great time.
:-)