Tag Archives: Art

Untitled Fire: Frequently asked Questions

Preface to readers that are not in the burn scene:

I started Töad Meädow because I wanted to give other people the sense of artistic freedom and empowerment that I first experienced upon joining the Burning Man community in 2004. A fire sculpture that I made in 2011 and have displayed at several regional Burning Man events occasionally gets banned at these events. Right now, an online hate mob has formed to assassinate my character and encourage yet more censorship. Amid the din of my haters’ melodramatic caterwauling, some people respectfully approach me in good faith and ask questions about the piece. The following essay is directed at them.

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August 2018 Art Build: The Recap!

Our August, 2018 monthly art build was spectacular success in the variety of art expressed, number of people and participation. We had two artistic photoshoots, started an artistic bike rack, coppersmithing, iron forging, effigy building and probably some stuff that I missed.

 

Effigy

Lead carpenter Brian begins working on the Atlas Toad effigy.

Carpenter Brian Sparrow joined us for the first time at the Meädow, so we decided to hand him some lumber and see what happened. Somehow we came up with the idea of an “Atlas” effigy, with a töad holding the weight of the world on its back. Many people pitched in on the effigy by painting it, helping construct it, or adding other accouterments. Once nighttime fell, Brian delivered an artist statement in front of the campfire, and then ceremoniously burned our sculpture.

Art Photo Shoots

Fish Union

Tommy and Christian assist in an art photoshoot that involved a fish and European flag.

Book burning

In addition to making physical things, the töads pitched in to help with two art photo shoots for Damon Hudac’s photographic endeavors. We were joined Friday night by local model Miranda Sevcovich who starred in Damon’s new book burning / censorship awareness photo project.

Behind the scenes shot of Damon, Tyler and Miranda working on their book burning art photography series.

Keri Mikulek also helped out by crafting an execution hood that was used as a prop in the shoot.

Mary models a prop that Keri made for the book burning photoshoot.

Bicycle rack

eARTh House Center for the Arts commissioned us to build them a fancy bike rack. They will place it outside their store for the convenience of their bicycle-riding customers. Sun and James did most of the metalworking.

Copper crafting

Mary brought copper foil and crafting supplies. People used them to make jewelry and other cool baubles.

Kayla hard at work making copper sheet into pretty jewelry.

Other stuff

Here are the rest of the pictures. Follow Töad Meädow on Facebook, and check out the next art build to help collaboratively make some stuff!

Lessons on Life and Meaning from an Artificial Intelligence

As an artist, I often ponder social and cultural norms and how they are changing around us. Lately, I have been increasingly fascinated with man’s relationship to technology. With this in mind, I’m in the early planning stages of several art projects that will cause us to examine the interface of technology and human existence. Virtual reality, autonomous robots, and attaining spiritual enlightenment via algorithms are some of themes to be explored.

With these art projects in mind, I decided to go straight to the source. I opened a dialog with an artificially intelligent being. What follows is the short text of that conversation.

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Amphibian 16:2 Report

At Amphibian 16:2 (July 22-24, 2016) we made Töad Meädow history with the largest fire and most mechanically successful effigy in our history. And we achieved it with a small group of core Töads figuring it all out as they went along.

Hell Hole designed conceptualized the effigy (his first large-scale art piece), and brought a cardboard model to the June art build weekend. From there, other Töads got to work on how to build the structure, aesthetic improvements and pyrotechnic considerations.

The resulting effigy burn had people gleefully running for their lives and marveling at the destructive power of Töad Art.

Bicycle Vaporization – A Great Leap Forward for Bicycle Holocaust

The March Art Build weekend was highly successful. Töads came from Toronto, Maryland, and all across New Amsterdam. Our goals were to continue working on the spring effigy, put the finishing touches on the art car, and vaporize a bicycle. All of this would help us prepare for Amphibian 16:1, the Buffalo Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and Bicycle Holocaust, respectively. Continue reading

December and January: Hard Core Art Building at the Monthly Parties

Preparing for Saint Patrick’s Day and Frostburn

NB: Click on any photo to make it larger.

The December and January art build weekends had a bunch of Töads preparing for upcoming events. In February is Frostburn, an outdoor weekend arts festival where Töad Meädow will have an encampment.

The following month we will be rolling out in Buffalo’s famous Saint Patrick’s Day Parade with our art car, rolling exhibits and wandering performers.

Here are some things we worked on

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Monthly Art Builds: A report on the first two

To further encourage the creation of artistic stupidity, Töad Meädow is now hosting monthly art build weekends. The Töads gather, the workshop is opened and we turn materials into art. You’re invited to work on and collaborate with your own personal project, or you can come and help others’ projects.

We’ve had two very productive art build weekends so far; one in August and one in September. Continue reading