Sand Fantasy

First posted on 02-14-2008:

Click the play button to start the performance...

A friend forwarded this a couple of weeks ago, but I of course waited until today to pass it on.

At first you'll see the sand painting as the most obvious form of expression. But quickly you discover the phased transitions define a whole new type of choreography. The painting has a very limited life, which brought me to realize the art is more of a performance than than the images it creates.

With the unfolding story, it's more like, "dancing fingers in the sand". Or to get distracted with an Elton John alliteration, "tiny dancer in your hand". Like watching God's in the act of creation.

This artist is certainly the spirit that makes sand dance.

So simple. So effective.

Or do I see too much in the movement of sand?



Great music too.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Bigger You-Tube version...

And more sand art 11-30-09...

Kseniya Simonova - Sand Animation

Another of her more dynamic and dramatic presentation 04-10-2014:

Kseniya Simonova at Ukraine's Got Talent


09-03-15 A new form of Sand Art:

Sand Art 4k

Your Body Is My Canvas

An excellent TED talk on how art evolves:

Alexa Meade Self Portrait

Your Body Is My Canvas














As Theodore Roethke implied, "Art is that which everything else isn't."

Strandbeests

I've been watching Theo Jansen's Strandbeests for years. They just keep getting better and better:

Theo's TED Talk

More Strandbeests

Another nice video

STREET ART UTOPIA

WOW! Truely amazing work. And delivered where it counts instead of inside some stone building.


STREET ART UTOPIA

Rice Paddy Art

Stunning crop art has sprung up across rice fields in Japan.

But this is no alien creation - the designs have been cleverly planted.

Farmers creating the huge displays use no ink or dye. Instead, different colours of rice plants have been precisely and strategically arranged and grown in the paddy fields.

As summer progresses and the plants shoot up, the detailed artwork begins to emerge.



A Sengoku warrior on horseback has been created from hundreds of thousands of rice plants, the colours created by using different varieties, in Inakadate in Japan.

The largest and finest work is grown in the Aomori village of Inakadate, 600 miles north of Toyko, where the tradition began in 1993.

The village has now earned a reputation for its agricultural artistry and this year the enormous pictures of Napoleon and a Sengoku-period warrior, both on horseback, are visible in a pair of fields adjacent to the town hall.

More than 150,000 vistors come to Inakadate, where just 8,700 people live, every summer to see the extraordinary murals.

Each year hundreds of volunteers and villagers plant four different varieties of rice in late May across huge swathes of paddy fields.



Napoleon on horseback can be seen from the skies, created by precision planting and months of planning between villagers and farmers in Inkadate



Fictional warrior Naoe Kanetsugu and his wife Osen appear in fields in the town of Yonezawa, Japan

And over the past few years, other villages have joined in with the plant designs.

Another famous rice paddy art venue is in the town of Yonezawa in the Yamagata prefecture.

This year's design shows the fictional 16th-century samurai warrior Naoe Kanetsugu and his wife, Osen, whose lives feature in television series Tenchijin.

Various artwork has popped up in other rice-farming areas of Japan this year, including designs of deer dancers.



Smaller works of crop art can be seen in other rice-farming areas of Japan such as this image of Doraemon and deer dancers

The farmers create the murals by planting little purple and yellow-leafed kodaimai rice along with their local green-leafed tsugaru roman variety to create the coloured patterns between planting and harvesting in September.

The murals in Inakadate cover 15,000 square metres of paddy fields.

From ground level, the designs are invisible, and viewers have to climb the mock castle tower of the village office to get a glimpse of the work.

Rice-paddy art was started there in 1993 as a local revitalization project, an idea that grew out of meetings of the village committee.



Closer to the image, the careful placement of thousands of rice plants in the paddy fields can be seen



The different varieties of rice plant grow alongside each other to create the masterpieces

In the first nine years, the village office workers and local farmers grew a simple design of Mount Iwaki every year.

But their ideas grew more complicated and attracted more attention.

In 2005 agreements between landowners allowed the creation of enormous rice paddy art.

A year later, organisers used computers to precisely plot planting of the four differently colored rice varieties that bring the images to life.

"The Medium is the Message"

This new art form certainly drives home Marshall McLuhan's message about the medium being the message... ah... being the medium.

Nice work, iri5.



For more...

Amazing cassette tape art

2008 Redneck Awards

Like most of you, I get lots of this kind of joke email, some funnier than others. I almost never pass it on, but this group of photos struck a cord not only for it's consistent quality, but for its apparent authenticity, which amplifies it's humor. Look closely at each picture. They are each from different venues, different characters at different times.

If staged photos, these would simply be old jokes. But check each one - these are carefully collected photos of candid shots or sometimes meticulously created art. Sometimes not. I Googled, but couldn't find a source. If you know the collector, send me a link. I'd like to give him credit and a link for such impressive album.

Finally, I'd like to note, these pictures DO represent part of our culture. It's a very creative, irreverent, and yes, sometimes clueless slice of America.

But they ARE funny in their innocence and honesty.

Click the picture for close-up...

The new 2008 redneck award winners.

Redneck Harley







Redneck Bass Boat





Redneck Grill





Redneck Horseshoes





Redneck Lawn mower





Redneck Weather Station





Redneck Pet Carrier





Redneck Gingerbread House





Redneck Guest Bedrooms

Redneck Dreamcatcher














Redneck Palm Pilot





Redneck Powerball Winner





The above Powerball Winner on Vacation





You Might be a redneck if...

A little rain doesn't spoil the fishing...





You need fashion tips from your husband





You wear a shirt like this for your engagement picture...





And your wedding cake looked like this





Your doghouse looks like this...





Your pickup looks like this...





You have a deer's butt for a door bell...





You don't need a lake to do a little skiing...





Or if your wife is quoted in the local paper saying...

You're An EXTREME Redneck When...

1 You let your 14-year-old daughter smoke at the dinner table in front of her kids.

2 The Blue Book value of your truck goes up and down depending on how much gas is in it.

3 You've been married three times and still have the same in-laws.

4 You think a woman who is out of your league bowls on a different night.

5 You wonder how service stations keep their rest-rooms so clean.

6 Someone in your family died right after saying, 'Hey, guys, watch this.'

7 You think Dom Perignon is a Mafia leader.

8 Your wife's hairdo was once ruined by a ceiling fan.

9 Your junior prom offered day care.

10. You think the last words of the Star-Spangled Banner are 'Gentlemen, start your engines. '

11. You lit a match in the bathroom and your house exploded right off its wheels.

12. The Halloween pumpkin on your porch has more teeth than your spouse.

13. You have to go outside to get something from the fridge.

14. One of your kids was born on a pool table.

15. You need one more hole punched in your card to get a freebie at the House of Tattoos.

16. You can't get married to your sweetheart because there's a law against it.

17. You think loading the dishwasher means getting your wife drunk.

Two good ol' boys in a Tennessee trailer park were sitting around talking one afternoon over a cold beer after getting off work at the Local Nissan plant.
After a while the 1st guy says to the 2nd, "If'n I was to sneak over to your trailer Saturday & make love to your wife while you was off huntin' and she got pregnant and had a baby, would that make us kin?”

The 2nd guy crooked his head sideways for a minute, scratched his head, and squinted his eyes thinking real hard about the question. Finally, he says, "Well, I don't know about kin, but it would make us even!"

NOW Y'ALL HAVE A GOOD DAY

Click for best of blog...

Women in Film

In case you were wondering...

Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish, Gloria Swanson, Marlene Dietrich, Norma Shearer, Ruth Chatterton, Jean Harlow, Katharine Hepburn, Carole Lombard, Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, Barbara Stanwyck, Vivien Leigh, Greer Garson, Hedy Lamarr, Rita Hayworth, Gene Tierney, Olivia de Havilland, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Crawford, Ginger Rogers, Loretta Young, Deborah Kerr, Judy Garland, Anne Baxter, Lauren Bacall, Susan Hayward, Ava Gardner, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Audrey Hepburn, Dorothy Dandridge, Shirley MacLaine, Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno, Janet Leigh, Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren, Ann Margret, Julie Andrews, Raquel Welch, Tuesday Weld, Jane Fonda, Julie Christie, Faye Dunaway, Catherine Deneuve, Jacqueline Bisset, Candice Bergen, Isabella Rossellini, Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon, Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sigourney Weaver, Kathleen Turner, Holly Hunter, Jodie Foster, Angela Bassett, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, Salma Hayek, Sandra Bullock, Julianne Moore, Diane Lane, Nicole Kidman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Reese Witherspoon, Halle Berry

Burning Man Art Ideas

Burning Man is about art, which can take many forms. The best art affects people emotionally and hopefully makes them think. Whether it's beautiful, challenging or nasty, pushing the limits helps us to hone our creative edge.

Over the years, I've had too many Burning Man art ideas and not enough time and resources to try them all. So I hereby gift them to those who seek inspiration. They are listed from the more visual to the interactive and finally the most challenging...

Zen and the Art of the Playa

The point in this group is to find a Zen art form where the playa itself provides the creative elements. Sort of like, get out of the way and let the playa express itself. You'll see this theme in lots of my favorite ideas...

Light Chimes - lasers hitting mirrors on strings in the wind so the beams in the dust flash about as an expression of the wind.

Flaming Man - A twelve foot Burning Man with mylar on the arms blowing in the wind and red lights to simulate fire.

Shade Man - Belt Mounted poles suspending Mylar or Nylon fabric for shade.

Cross Pole Sun Shade - works well but difficult to control in the wind. (From here I started using the hammock on my deck as a foundation).

Floating Words - Hammock holding up a Nylon canopy with words about wind written on it.

These two ideas expanded to become the Zen Hammock in 2004 and 2005. But I used Satin instead of Nylon or Mylar. And I dropped the words in a nod to Zen. It turned out to be my best work so far.

Wind Dome - Hinged hex doors on top of a center support structure diverting wind down into a fabric dome to keep it inflated most of the time using playa wind.

Playa Worm - A large painted fabric windsock "worm" with its mouth pointed into the wind.

A Huge Playa Worm - an even bigger version wrapped around my motor-home with PVC ribs.

Wind Hug Machine - this uses rows of vertical pieces of fabric on PVC pointed vertical to the wind so that people could walk through and be buffeted and hugged by the fabric blowing in the wind.

Playa Organ - pipes in the wind. I've since seen this done but could have lots of interesting variations.

Mylarian Radiation Shield - BIG Mylar shade for Heliophobe like me.

MegaShade - 20 x 20 feet - this got MUCH bigger and ended up as the Tyvekian Radiation Shield in 2005, 2006 and 2007 but you could still do LOTS of variations.

Wind Puppet - shoulder harness to hold torso above catching wind to inflate the skirt below. Eyes holes at belt-line with poles to move "arms" and "legs".

Mylar "Umbrella" - with weights at the ends of the tassels so that when you spin the handle it goes horizontal

Drip Sculpting - Leave water trails in playa dust from a pendulum hose, then let the playa wind blow away the excess dust leaving the mud shape as it builds up over time.

Ice Sculpting - place ice shapes in a dusty white-out to see what form the mud takes.

Dust Sculpting - use existing objects and water sprayers.

Cyclops - Glowing head on top of white robe as alien. Actually created and used in 2004

Kerilian Toad Man - made with Taco Bell cups

Burning Films - project movies on the playa surface from a tower

Fiber Lights - A BIG bundle of PVC with tip lights to simulate a twenty foot fiber-optic lamp with the lighted PVC blowing around in the wind.

Steps that ring with each foot-fall to play a song as you go up and down the stairs.




Interactive Art

Free Association - as a gift, respond to comments with prepared random thoughts forming the opposite of communication, but in which people would try to find meaning.

Origami Man - attach arm and leg panels made of ridged Mylar triangles to "hide" under a Mylar structure until someone walks up. Then SURPRISE!

Anonymous Hugs - use a wall of stretch fabric with people on each side pushing and moving the fabric in different ways.

Hugmatron - A body suit with finger and chest switches driving 96 LED lights in 4 x 6 groups of red, blue, green & white LEDs controlled by a 4 x 4 matrix of body switches and 4 hand controlled color switches so that when you hugged someone, others could see your points of contact on your back to allow the hug take on a visual form.

Vibrating Hands - Mr Tingles. In 2007 I actually found and used some factory made gloves with vibrating finger tips. It worked quite well, as you might imagine.

What Women Want - Vibrating body suit like the gloves, but an all over a body-suit with lots of vibrator points for VERY intense hugs.

Burning Man - Infrared laser as a remote heat gun - just to watch the reaction and confusion. Keep it below a blister.

Burning Mirror - Use Mylar to focus and create a solar furnace for setting fire to things as demonstration. Works well.

Vapor Lock - Rum punch in a pressurized mister that you could spray in people's mouth as they breath in. - Tried briefly in 2004 and gave quite a kick within a couple of seconds, but should use PURE alcohol to keep non-vapor materials out of the lungs.

Playa Blindfolds - Hand out blindfolds to one party of a couple so people can explore trust.

Playa Award - Give recognition with Blue Ribbons to recognize various art forms - all 1st place of course. Here are some examples...

Beyond Belief
Nicest Hooters
Most Unexpected
Sweetest Raisins
Cutest Smile
Warmest Hug
Most Giving
Best Booty
Best of Burn
Just Nasty!




Art Cars

Playa Dumpster - Take one of the large curb dumpster and put a car battery and electric motor in the bottom then sit inside and drive away when someone approaches with garbage.

Gangcycle - many bikes driving one large platform w/ shade

Wind Car - Egg-beater style wind-mill driving a gear down and shaft and art car VERY slowly.

See and Be Seen Art Car - Voyeurs go below, exhibitionist go above to the second floor where they can dance on a transparent floor.

Gotta Go - A Porta-pottie on wheels that drives away when you get close.

Exams to Go - Powered Gynocoligist's Table with Stirups. You could stand at the one end in a white lab coat as you drive around looking for patients.




Socially Challenging Art

Pregnant Nun - Nuff said. Been done. Take it somewhere new.

Nun's Habit - Nun's habit from the waist up, fishnet stockings below. These last two ideas were for Beyond Belief in 2003 and I've since seen various versions.

Lick Your Plate - Leave No Trace. Used in 2005.

Aural Sex Camp - home of the Nape Raper, where erotic things get whispered in your ear.

Mylar Mystery Booth - which became Mylar Surprise in 2007.

Blinking Nude Woman - This uses the one way mirror effect at night. It would be some kind of costumn a woman would wear that was a bulky dress or hoop skirt made of semi-transparent Mylar that just looked spacy until a stobe went off underneith. The flash should occur in a random fashion and last for less than a second but long enough to display a silhouetted naked figure.

I haven't found a volunteer yet.

Let me know.

Korea - Being There

Remember the first time your child brought home some drawing from school? You of course respond with glee to encourage their artistic creation in hopes the next one will be even better. I remember those days. I have a file somewhere with the collected results.

When my 20 year old son Travis said he was going to Korea for a few weeks, I thought it atypical. I knew he had met some Korean exchange students who invited him to visit, but several weeks in a foreign land with no specific objective? Still, we each need to find our own ways of expressing ourself, and I gave him points for defining his own path.

When he got back I asked about his experience. He said very little. I asked about pictures. He said he was working on it. I backed off. That was months ago.

A few minutes ago I got an email with this You-Tube link. I was expecting a few snap-shots, but I was wrong. I think Travis has captured the reason, reality and result of an immersive experience in a foreign land. This is definitely Korea from HIS perspective.

All of those practice drawings from second grade have paid off.

OK. I'm sure I'm biased, so tell me what YOU think .

Travis in Korea

Keep me grounded. Leave a comment with your conclusion.

Give Me a Sign!

(First posted to Sudden Art 10-21-06)



In the movie, "Blast From the Past", Archbishop Melker (Joey Slotnick) is praying with his flock and crying out, "Give me a sign!", in an attempt to verify that Christ had truly arisen from his basement.

Just then Adam (Brendon Fraser - aka "the Son") opens the door to verify he's found the way back to his bomb shelter. Seeing the group in prayer, he quickly offers an embarrassed smile and a little wave before he leaves. It's one of those all time magic moments in movie comedy when someone begs for a sign in their life - and gets it!

As most of you know, I've become more and more involved with Burning Man art projects over the last few years. That's why I've been looking for a new home. I need a garage and space to stage Burning Man art as it's developed.

A few weeks ago I found this home on the market and was immediately attracted. I took these pictures to share with some of my friends, but it wasn't until my son walked through and pointed out "the sign" that I knew it was the right place.

The "sign" is in one of the photos below and is a remarkable likeness of the "man" considering it was constructed 13 years BEFORE the first Burn on the beach in San Francisco. The human mind looks for patterns in the fog. It MUST be a sign. See if you can spot it.





The property has excellent access, but a quasi-industrial horse farm setting. It's on the low-rent edge, of the up-scale side of Reno. The front presents a very modest exposure to a gravel street.



At a half acre, it has plenty of room to work on things. When the horse moves out, I'll have room for the art.





Even though simple on the outside, the inside looks like a transplant from Tahoe with it's expansive greatroom. Other parts are cobbled and cramped, more like something from Santa Cruz. I like the mixed message.



It has three bedrooms plus a studio with loft bedroom for a total of four.



Much of the interior is knotty pine with a LOT of VERY detailed and non-standard finish.



Someone liked to express themselves with a table saw and sandpaper. Most of the woodwork is still in excellent in condition. With the rock, concrete block and fire brick added in, it's almost as if they built the house out of what was at hand at the time. I suspect I like the effect more than most, but it's so much fun to see all of these materials brought together in such a willy-nilly fashion.



The Great-room is held up with what appears to be ex-railroad bridgework and stone. Some of the original mounting points are still visible. I don't know how old it was when it was put in place, but after 40 years the beams still sight true with very little cracking. There's only one point where it's been reinforced with steel.



The fireplace and BBQ speak for themselves. OK. I'll give you a hint. I suspect someone was reading Tolkien at the time.



The exterior could use some work, but the charm factor inside overwhelms everthing else.



Let me know what YOU think.

Burning Man Screen Savers

(First posted to Sudden Art 08-16-06)


In all the years I've used computers, I've never bothered with screen savers. The main reason was the image base was so small, the pictures quickly got boring. And most screen savers don't even bother to change the order of execution so even the sequence became predictable. The black screen was more entertaining.

In the last couple of years, that's all changed. First of all, these Burning Man Screen Savers have an obvious corner on amazing images. Plus these guys have a random sequence and a LARGE selection of images. I can let it run all year without getting bored. And by then, next year's version is out.

The last several years is now available for free download...

Burning Man Screen Savers

So if you can't Burn, watch us Burn all year long.

Dust Art

Talk about sculpting in butter!

The Dust Art of Scott Wade

Think what he could do on the playa!

Does Butter Fly When Churned with Water?

I was out for my morning miles, just getting started actually, and totally lost in thought that shall now never be recalled. 


All of a sudden, I was distracted by a huge butterfly the color of it's namesake lying open on the path, not moving at all. Did it pick this very moment to die?

It stopped me in my tracks with it's rich yellow hues, as if it were freshly churned. And it stopped me in my train of thought to wonder, what is it doing here?  Spring ended yesterday. Why was this guy still hanging around? And why hadn't a bird snapped it up for breakfast? If the early bird gets the worm, does the late hiker get the butterfly?

This creature would bear further inspection. I needed to get it home where I have one of those magnifying lamps on my desk. But how could I best carry it? I had just started my walk and still had miles to go. I had no Ziplock or easy way to hold a butterfly.

As a student of Zen, THIS was a worthy challenge - even a bit poetic. Could I carry a dead butterfly for miles without breaking it?  Would this task bring enlightenment?

I pulled my shirt sleeve down over my right hand cupping it against my belly hoping the cloth would do less damage. Next I picked up the butterfly by the tip of the wing and put it on it's prepared shelf. I started out slowly then headed on up the path at a faster clip. This was easy I thought, keeping an eye on my passenger.

I was wrong. Carrying a butterfly is more difficult than you might think. Even the breeze from walking buffets it about. It fell off twice in the first mile. After that I got better with my balance. Or so it seemed. I carefully moved on.

There is this one steep hill just before the highway. As I went down carefully a serious breeze caught the butterfly's wings. But it held its position against the wind! It was holding on to the cotton with its feet!  Was this a death-spasm?  Or maybe just a contraction from the process of dying?  Well then, it would die in my arms, I laughed to myself as I cupped him with both hands and ran across the highway.

Back at the house I looked for something to set it on so I could check it out under the magnifying glass. There was a stiff advertising post card with the power bill. That would work for now. Later I would want something completely white as a background for photos. Its feet were definitely attached to the threads of my shirt. I could feel them pull away as I picked him up by the wings.

Under the glass it was even more beautiful than before. The color was amazing. Then his legs started moving. Was this another spasm? The butterfly had a spiral tongue, and it unwound - like a dog waking up from a nap. This creature was alive! Or was it?  I watched for minutes.  It didn't move any more.  This WAS becoming an exercise in Zen.  So was that another dying gasp?  Or just yawning? I turned off the light and went to work at the computer.

A while later I checked again. No movement. And there was no change by the time I left for breakfast. It was laid out flat on the post card - perfect for mounting.

When I returned a couple of hours later it had moved. It was now on its side with its wings closed. Damn, I thought, I didn't want it dying in that position. I needed it flat for display.

I gently pulled its wings apart. But back they went. Do butterflies get rigor mortis? Again I carefully pulled them apart. They flipped back.  I was curious.  I turned on the light for a closer look - no other movement. Maybe it had died and then dried out in that position. Water might relax it a bit. I took it to the sink and splashed it with a couple drops. No change.

I let it soak a few seconds then pulled the wings apart again. It flapped out of my fingers and into my face! It then flew across the room banging into my dining room window. That settled that. It was definitely alive. It just needed a drink of water.

I quickly moved to catch it but it went up high. I stepped on the chair. Still not high enough. I stepped up on the table and caught him cupping my hands over the window. He stopped flapping. Did it remember my smell? Or was it just scared?

I pulled the sliding glass door open with my elbow and took it out on the deck. As I opened my hands, it just sat there. Now it didn't want to leave. Go figure. I poked it and it took to the air. This was no timid departure. It went almost straight up about twenty feet landing on the top of a tree near my deck.

So does butter fly when churned with water? This one certainly did.

And did I find the path to Zen enlightenment?   Nope.  Not even close.

But I did learn not to make assumptions about life.

Or when it ends.