January 2020
Description coming soon.
The Sisypheum was the effigy for Burning Flipside 2019: Sisyphean Celebration. The effigy serves as a themed centerpiece for the event which is installed on site and burned on the last night of festivities. This piece featured a mountainous structure upon which “The Man” pushes an enormous disco ball up its slope ad infinitum. Inside the structure was a dance floor with multiple overlooking decks and numerous hang out nooks with plenty of seating. The upper deck on the third floor let people get up close and personal with the brilliantly lit disco ball. The man itself was to be mechanically actuated, however technical difficulties on site led to a static installation.
For this build I primarily served as a CNC operator, cutting numerous vital parts for The Man as well as the component parts that made up the disco ball. I also helped with typical onsite installation duties - swinging a hammer, driving screws, holding heavy things etc.
Pine Cononagon was the effigy for Burning Flipside 2018: Return of the Shadows: 20 Years of Light and Dark. The effigy serves as a themed centerpiece for the event which is installed on site and burned on the last night of festivities. This piece features an immense nonagonal pine cone whose scales spread open during the burn, as real pine cones do during forest fires in order to release seeds. Inside were three levels. A staircase at the entrance lead first to the first floor, a colorful moody forest diorama representing the material realm. A central spiraling stairwell led up or down. Going down would lead you to the first floor, a dark smokey, surreal indoor space that represented the the realm of the dead. Here you would find a bar, seating, and numerous personal art pieces throughout. Upstairs on the 3rd floor one would find a small dimly lit star scape representing the spiritual realm. Within the stars one could recognise constellations portraying effigies of Flipside’s past. Numerous secret passageways and little details really tied the room together on this one.
My participation in this effigy, among typical build duties, focused on lighting for the forest area. With a CNC laser cutter I created a series of themed lanterns. Furthermore, we used a variety of LEDs in the ceiling and foliage to build atmosphere. I also helped with the constellations on the 3rd floor, designing the constellations themselves and using a CNC router to cut out the panels and holes for fiber optics to be installed. On site I further helped with detail on the 1st floor, adding lighting and other small touches to the bar area.
This served as the effigy for Freezerburn Texas 2018: Duck stuff. The effigy serves as a themed centerpiece for the event which is installed on site and burned on the last night of festivities. This piece featured a large rubber ducky being pulled under the water by an immense tentacled beast.
My participation in this build outside of my special project was limited to on site assembly. My main contribution was the eyes, which are detailed in a separate portfolio entry.
Developed with art collective FutureTBD, this piece was our first project together. It was Created as a site specific installation for East Austin Studio Tour 2017 and was later reinstalled at a Meow Wolf sponsored event at Empire Control Room During SXSW 2018.
The concept is that a secretive science and research organization has discovered a series of space time anomalies that are causing strange life forms from overlapping dimensions to bleed into our reality. The organization, FutureTBD, locks down these sites for further study, calling upon “research volunteers” (aka participants) to come observe and interact with the anomalous zone. The installation features numerous interactive elements. Bio-luminescent barnacles that flicker when you come into contact with their tendrils. Glowing tentacles hanging form the ceiling which can be actuated with pulleys. Infrared sensors that altar the soundscape as you move across the space.
The setting also allowed for a fun interactive element between collective members and participants during the event. Scientists would walk around with research waivers warning telepathic suggestions from alien entities. Other would walk around acting as individuals infected by the creatures, suggesting further physical interaction with the space.
My involvement in this installation was heavily focused on the barnacle wall. I worked on designing and prototyping the barnacles then oversaw their fabrication and installation. We used laser CNC to cut out flat packed sections of the barnacles out of frosted Mylar sheet, which were then folded and assembled onto a plywood base. They were then mounted on a purpose build wall where LED’s, sensors, and electronics well installed from the other side.
After the barnacles were installed we used various materials such as reflective Mylar and PVC to create filler material which mimicked patterns used throughout the installation to bring a cohesive visual aesthetic.
I also worked on our flyer graphics, associated marketing materials, story copy, and t-shirt design.
Playwood Palace was the effigy for Burning Flipside 2017: Unicorns Vs Rainbows. The effigy serves as a themed centerpiece for the event which is installed on site and burned on the last night of festivities. This piece was meant to invoke your inner child with its oversized playscape styling, numerous themed sections, and a variety of fun interactive elements. Within the main structure was housed a bar/cafe, the forest of mirrors, a ball pit, secret rooms, multiple turrets with interactive flame effect cannons, climbing walls, chill space, a three story playground slide, and my personal pet project; the hobbit hole.
While early in the project I helped with structural assembly and later did assist in some of the other special projects, once the hobbit hole was devised it consumed most of my focus. Hidden away in the forest of mirrors and underneath a stairwell, it featured a classic round hobbit door, an entryway, kitchenette, work desk, bed, wardrobe, and two secret doors. The interior was lit with warm, dim candle light and densely packed with details, trinkets, and oddities. Throughout the home were subtle hints at the hobbits greater purpose; researching the aetheric energies emitted by crystals found in the forest of mirrors. Next to his work desk was housed the fruits of his labors; The Aether Siphon.
A curious device, it was created to channel crystal energy to power his home - with some rather unintended side effects. Behind the hobbits wardrobe lay a fissure in space time created by his own meddling. Passing through this portal led to an area of warped dimension which sent you hurtling into deep space; a ball pit within the center most part of the structure where black lights were used to illuminate shimmering stars and orbiting planetoids.
This was the effigy for Freezerburn Texas 2017: Frost in Space. The effigy serves as a themed centerpiece for the event which is installed on site and burned on the last night of festivities. The piece is a reference to a page from XKCD’s book, Thing Explainer. “This end should point towards the ground if you want to go to space. If it starts pointing towards space you are having a bad problem and you will not go to space today.”
Once again I worked as a simple fabricator on this build. During this build I spent a lot of time directly assisting the project designer/build lead and was consulted by him regarding a number of design decisions. Through this relationship I learned a great deal about process design, structural engineering basics, and approaching projects with a bottom-up mindset.
This was the effigy for Burning Flipside 2016: No. The effigy serves as a themed centerpiece for the event which is installed on site and burned on the last night of festivities. The piece represented a child playing with a TNT plunger, a metaphor for all the dumb mistakes that we all make on our respective journeys and (hopefully) reminds us to learn from them and grow as individuals.
My second major build, I continued to expand upon my woodworking skill as a fabricator while beginning to observe and understand the design process for creating large scale pieces and structural elements. Much larger than my previous build, this experience continued to push my boundaries in both what I saw myself as capable of and what I imagined was possible.
Photo Credit: Dave Rabbit
This was the effigy for Freezerburn Texas 2016: The road to Valhalla. The effigy serves as a themed centerpiece for the event which is installed on site and burned on the last night of festivities. In Norse mythology, Fólkvangr is a meadow or field ruled over by the goddess Freyja where half of those that die in combat go upon death, while the other half go to the god Odin in Valhalla. This piece represents a grove of tree's sprung to life by Freyja’s power to serve as a place of rest for those weary dead continuing their journey to the Hall of the Slain.
The first installation piece I ever worked on, I served as a general fabricator. Inherent to the nature of most burnable art, the piece is made entirely of wood except for fasteners, lighting, and flame effects equipment. Expanding on prior knowledge of tools and building techniques, I leaned a lot about structural woodworking, greatly compounded my experience with power tools, and became comfortable working as a team in a sometimes uncomfortable and dangerous work environment.