Gerard Van den Berge

The Art and Artists Blog
The content of the Digital Consciousness Newsletter is now posted on this Blog. It contains eight years of past news of Digital Consciousness artists, including announcements of the Digital Color Artists of the Month and new work added to the galleries. Please look over the posts about these artists and leave positive comments about the ones you like.

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Gerard Van den Berge
Gerard Van den Berge is the January 2008 Digital Color Artist of the Month. Gerard is a nature impression photographer. He works in the Netherlands. While taking photographs he looks for the horizon and for the abstractness of the sea, the beach and the dunes. His way of taking pictures is spontaneous without aiming for a technically perfect representation. Mostly he wishes to show the opposite; the pure chance; the freedom. http://renownedart.com/digitalcolor/

New Artwork in the Galleries
Joseph DiSipio and Nicholas Caputi have added new artwork to their galleries. http://DigitalConsciousness.com/gallerylist.phtml

New Contemporary Artists
The following artists registered in the last month. To view the work of an artist enter the artist's name at http://DigitalConsciousness.com To see these most recent artists go to http://DigitalConsciousness.com/new/

1. Durga. Dark Folklore Art from the ancient tribal cultures of Indonesia.
2. Jaroslaw Kukowski. Surrealistic creatures which disturb the spirit of sensitive observers.
3. Leone Holzhaus. Contrasts of subdued interiors and bright sunlight, from Portugal.
4. Jeffrey Dean. Modern Realism.
5. Ann Tracy. Digital collages of the machinery of electricity.
6. Peter Heuscher. Florals from Australia.
7. Melissa Hall. Animals and wildlife.
8. K. Jenkins. Emotive, expressive, figurative oil painting.
9. Jason Shawn Alexander. Expressionistic portraits.

Ad-free Galleries With No Commission.
Artists with Digital Consciousness Gallery Service can create and edit on-line galleries from a control panel. These galleries contain no ads and are among the most prominent pages on Digital Consciousness. Artists may sell artwork from their galleries free of commission. Gallery Service requires registration and $30 a year.
Registration is free and registered artists may create an Artist Page without purchasing Gallery Service. Registered Artists can use the Edit link at the bottom of their Artist Page to edit their Artist Page or to upgrade to Gallery Service.

The Digital Color Art Awards.
Digital Color http://RenownedArt.com/digitalcolor accepts nominations for art awards. The winner's biography and links to the winner's artwork are placed in the permanent gallery. Gallery Service fees are waived for winners for one year.

John Well-Off-Man

John Well-Off-Man
John Well-Off-Man is the December 2007 Artist of the Month. John, a member of the Chippewa-Cree tribe, was born and raised in Havre, Montana, and on the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation. He received his diploma in photography from Ohio Visual Art Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio in 1978, and an Associate of Fine Arts degree from the Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1990. John Well-Off-Man produced the visual exhibit "Their Eyes Tell Everything," a photo-history of the Montana Chippewa-Cree with a grant from the Montana Committee for the Humanities. This exhibit is now in the permanent collection of the Montana Museum of Art and Culture.

John Well-Off-Man's artworks are exhibited nationally and internationally and included in the permanent collection of the Westphalian State Museum of Natural History in Muenster, Germany. The artist is well known for his series of oil portraits rendered in brilliant textured colors using nails and tooth picks instead of brushes. These portraits were meant to honor the old timers of Chief Rocky Boy's band of Ojibwe and Little Bear's band of Cree. John is going to set up a printmaking studio in Missoula, Montana. http://renownedart.com/digitalcolor/

New Artwork in the Galleries
Carson Collins, Barbara Rose Guada and Nicholas Caputi have added new artwork to their galleries. http://DigitalConsciousness.com/gallerylist.phtml

New Contemporary Artists
The following artists registered since October 23. To view the work of an artist enter the artist's name at http://DigitalConsciousness.com To see these most recent artists go to http://DigitalConsciousness.com/new/

1. Betty Luna. Detailed fantasy drawing.
2. Gustavo Moller. Abstract and geometric printmaking from Mexico.
3. Scott Boote. Stylized, abstract interpretations of landscapes and seascapes.
4. Lian Zhen. Landscapes, nature and animals from China.
5. Armando Bettencourt. Exposure of hidden societal elitist spins.
6. Dj Levi Jones. Ghanaian music on radiofocus.co.uk 8pm GMT Mon., Wed. and Thur.
7. Harold Adler. Events and wedding photography.
8. Lemya el Sophia. Experimentation founded on the collaboration between artists.
9. Roberto Palladini. Photography from Italy.
10. Marat Dusembaev. Light and color abstracts from Italy.

Southern California Art Walks and Studio Tours

* Dec 1, 2007 Santa Ana Artists Village Open House
* Dec 6, 2007 Santa Barbara Art Walk
* Dec 6, 2007 Laguna Beach First Thursdays Art Walk
* Dec 6, 2007 1st Thursday Downtown San Pedro
* Dec 6, 2007 Art on the Avenues, West Hollywood
* Dec 7, 2007 First Fridays Ventura
* Dec 8, 2007 NELAart - Northeast L.A. Gallery Night
* Dec 8, 2007 Pomona Art Walk
* Dec 13, 2007 Downtown Los Angeles Artwalk
* Dec 15, 2007 Miracle Mile Art Walk

http://digitalconsciousness.net/directory/artcalendar.php

Carson Collins

Carson Collins
Carson Collins (b. 1953) is the November 2007 Artist of the Month. Carson was born in Oklahoma and raised and home schooled in the techniques of painting in Florida. He received a B.A. in psychology and chemistry at the University of South Florida at Tampa in 1973 and an M.D. from the University of Texas at Galveston in 1977. A passionate traveler, he has painted in Mauritius, the Stockholm Archipelago, St. Barthelemy, Honolulu, Manhattan and Costa Rica. He works in studios where the dominant light source comes from the west.

Carson's life work, The Ocean Series, is a post modern response to the color field paintings of Mark Rothko. Intriguing, relaxing, and evocative, these richly colored and detailed images are minimalist in composition and appeal to serious art lovers, those who meditate, and ocean lovers. The subject of The Ocean Series is the four elements -- earth, air, fire, and water -- in their most majestic setting: the shoreline. They are seascapes with a western horizon, an ancient and universal meditation on a setting sun; incantations to an idealized father descending below the horizon, or body, of an equally idealized mother.

Abstracted as a circle within a square, the sun is never seen as such in the paintings but implied through the reflection of sky into ocean. The horizon is the base of the square, the top edge of the canvas being the upper edge, the right and left vertical edges completing it. The transcendental nature of the intense colors at sunset, due to the acute angle of the sun and the ocean as the source of all rivers is a metaphor of death and reincarnation. They are a monument to something that is already, forever, lost. http://RenownedArt.com/digitalcolor/

New Artwork in the Galleries
Derek McCrea, Nicholas Caputi, Nirvana Blues and Ernesto Silva have added new artwork to their galleries. http://DigitalConsciousness.com/gallerylist.phtml

New Contemporary Artists
The following artists registered since September 23. To view the work of an artist enter the artist's name at http://DigitalConsciousness.com To see these most recent artists go to http://DigitalConsciousness.com/new/

1. Senthil Nathan. Spiritual calligraphy from India.
2. Telmo Mota. Warm shape sculpture from Portugal.
3. Michael Miller. Reference object sculpture.
4. Rajiv Vyas. Singer from India.
5. Bui Xuan Phai (1920-1988). Landscapes from Vietnam.
6. Eduard Manukyan. Ethnic Artistic still life.
7. Dick D’Agostino. Stylized fish and flowers.
8. Garima Gupta. Fantasy oils from India.
9. Heinrich Gustav. Architectural painting from Japan.
10. Hans Holtkamp. Realistic figure sculpture from Canada.
11. Shivaji Shet. Realistic landscapes from India.
12. Mark Fischer. Voice prints of whales and other animals.
13. Eveliene Deraedt. Fashion photography from Belgium.
14. Jose Carvalhosa. Realistic drawings from Portugal.
15. Sergio Manzari. Spiritual paintings done by candlelight.
16. Richard Misiano-Genovese. Innovative collage.
17. Nestor Patialiakas. Byzantine and religious egg tempera from Greece.
18. Raymond Marsh. Money and currency themes from Australia.
19. Debi Ireland McSwain. vibrant thick textured florals and animals.
20. George Calle. Surplus metal sculpture from Canada.

Southern California Art Walks and Studio Tours
Monthly Art Walks

* Nov 1, 2007 Santa Barbara Art Walk (1st Thursday)
* Nov 1, 2007 Laguna Beach First Thursdays Art Walk
* Nov 1, 2007 1st Thursday Downtown San Pedro
* Nov 1, 2007 Art on the Avenues, West Hollywood (1st Thursday)
* Nov 2, 2007 First Fridays Ventura
* Nov 3, 2007 Santa Ana Artists Village Open House (1st Saturday)
* Nov 8, 2007 Downtown L.A. Artwalk (2nd Thursday)
* Nov 10, 2007 NE L.A. Art Walk (2nd Saturday)
* Nov 10, 2007 Pomona Art Walk (2nd Saturday)
* Nov 17, 2007 Miracle Mile Art Walk (3rd Saturday)

Other Art Walks and Open Studio Tours

* Nov 3, 2007 Ventura ArtWalk
* Nov 3-4, 2007 Silver Lake Open Studio Tour
* Nov 3-4, 2007 Santa Monica Art Studios Open Studio Tour
* Nov 18, 2007 Arroyo Arts Collective Discovery Tour ($11)

http://DigitalConsciousness.net/directory/artcalendar.php

Derek McCrea

Derek McCrea
Derek McCrea (b. 1969) is the October 2007 Artist of the Month. Derek was born in Albany, Georgia. He paints in a whimsical impressionistic style in plein air settings. He first started painting with oils in the summer of 1984. From 1985 to 1986 he painted under the instruction of Jimmy Peterson, a well known artist from Georgia. In 1986 he won first place in the Georgia Arts Exhibition. Derek's works can be found in galleries in North Carolina, Georgia, Spain, France and Austria, frame and arts and craft shops in the Southeastern United States and numerous online galleries.

Derek has completed over 20 commissions in the past couple of years. His art was selected for the cover of The Eclipse. The Eclipse is a publication where poets write about the artwork of a selected artist once per quarter. Derek McCrea is a US Army Infantry Combat Soldier with two tours in Iraq with the 3rd Infantry Division. http://renownedart.com/digitalcolor/

Southern California Art Walks and Studio Tours
Digital Consciousness has launched a calendar listing the dates of art walks, studio tours, and other art-related events in southern California. http://DigitalConsciousness.net/directory/artcalendar.php Links are provided for more information about each event. These events are so good it is worth a trip to Southern California if you live out of the region. At the Laguna Beach artwalk, one gallery had etchings and other works by many renowned artists including Renoir, Dali, Chagall, Miro, Matisse and Rembrandt. There were also etchings by Camille Pissarro as well as paintings by his grandson H. Claude Pissarro.

New Artwork in the Galleries
Kevin Barr, Nirvana Blues, Lisa Putman, Nicholas Caputi, Jan Kolling and Jonathan Eoyang have added new artwork to their galleries. http://DigitalConsciousness.com/gallerylist.phtml

New Contemporary Artists
The following artists registered since August 23. To view the work of an artist enter the artist's name at http://DigitalConsciousness.com To see these most recent artists go to http://DigitalConsciousness.com/new/

1. Mirko Sevic. Surrealistic drawings from Croatia.
2. Jarig Straatsma. Landscapes from the Netherlands.
3. Juan Herrera. Digital photography from Argentina.
4. Michelle Frost. Ceramics from Canada.
5. Ilr Berhami. Geometric and futurist shapes from Albania.
6. Rita Slotteroy. Light, color and flower abstracts.
7. Marie Hermance. Abstracts from France.
8. Alberto Thirion. Mystical and spiritual romantic subjects from Mexico.
9. L Day. Landscape and nature photography.
10. Jason Howard. Abstracts and Perspex art from the U.K.
11. Colin Tresadern. Elemental geometric forms in a non-representational abstract space.
12. Donna Mae Montgomery. Visionary portraits and interiors.
13. Jan Kölling. Spiritual portraits from the Netherlands.
14. Shefqet Avdush Emini. Expressionistic oils from the Netherlands.
15. Craig Perry-Ollila. Abstract and quirky photography.
16. Tara Amodini. Mystical watercolors.
17. Didier Hirsch. Digital collage from France.
18. Harlan Gruber. Burning Man art installation.
19. Henk Klinkhamer. Figurative paintings from the Netherlands.
20. Angelina Dellner. Sensuous mysterious deep enigmatic painting from Norway.
21. Rob Collins. Oil, marble and linen; amalgamation of painting and sculpture.
22. Farnoosh Ahmadi Shirazi. Abstract landscapes from Iran.
23. Martin Am. Hand painted famous icons.
24. Ilgvars Zalans. Expressionistic cityscapes from Latvia.

Orange County Museum of Art. Currently exhibited is Art Since The 1960s: California Experiments

* Large blueprints which the artist had constructed of Gilligan's Island, the Addams Family mansion, and Rob and Laura Petrie's home. They were wonderfully nostalgic pieces, and also worked as art.
* Several pieces executed in the medium of smog. Silk or Plexiglas canvases had stencils placed over them and they were exposed to the air. Then the stencils were removed, and smog images remained. A few of the images were relevant to the medium, such as lungs or a gas mask.
* Vija Celmins. An extremely realistic oversized acrylic on wood sculpture of an eraser.
* A 32 minute long film of artist John Baldessari repeatedly writing "I will not make any more boring art."
* A few slices of plaster "wedding cake" created by Claes Oldenburg. Imagine attending a wedding and going home with a work of art by a famous artist!
* An Ed Ruscha piece entitled "Every Building on the Sunset Strip."

Harlan Emil Gruber

Burning Man 2007 Friday and Saturday
The Artery.
Friday morning I rode toward the Artery with a friend from the Golden Cafe. We took the roundabout way and came across a camp that made pancakes. They served us pancakes on frisbees that had "Burning Man 2007" printed on them. They coated them with warm syrup from a big vat with a nozzle controlled by a foot pedal. We also stopped at a camp that had just opened a bar and was playing one of the BRC radio stations. When we got to the Artery, a camp in city center that coordinates placement of art installations, we read about the art. A few of the projects are funded from the ticket sale money. Most are not. We got more maps and saw all of the city center funded art. The highlights were the super 3D images viewed through binoculars at the cafe and the big gate sculpture made from discarded bikes. Dozens of artists contributed to the art around city center. One was a painting in glow in the dark paint that stood out beautifully at night.

El Museum de Materiel Retrieve.
Next we rode to the art on the near playa. Interesting was El Museum de Materiel retrieve or Museum of Reused Items by Traipse Treyfidis. It is an art museum dedicated to recycled materials. The structure is built from reclaimed cardboard. Its interior contains reproductions of famous modern artworks done entirely in recycled materials. A hilariously narrated fake history of Western art runs continuously referencing these works, that include a tomato soup can and a fake Picasso.

Under the Man.
The Hexayurt and generator exhaust exhibits were useful. A Hexayurt is a living area made from low cost high insulating material and sealed with tape. One was set up in the sun and it was surprisingly cool inside. The temperature of the earth just beneath the surface is pleasantly cool. So, in the yurt, the earth's surface, shielded from the elements will approach this temperature. I am building one next year. The generator exhaust exhibit showed generator exhaust cooled and pumped through tubes of growing algae. The algae fed on the exhaust and the result was a decrease in carbon emissions.

The Big Dust Storm.
There had been intermittent dust storms, even short white out conditions throughout the week, but Friday was the worst. I was on the playa when it hit, on my bike wearing sunglasses. I switched to goggles, but it was too late. Playa dust was in my eye. The wind blew so hard I walked the bike. The wind picked up even more. It was a total gray out. All that could be seen was the white gray color of the playa dust through the tears pouring out of my eye. I stopped completely and stayed motionless except to turn my head away from the shifting directions of the winds. During a remission in the immobilizing conditions I made it to the Kitchen. A few of us sat out the storm in the Kitchen drinking liqueurs and talking. The Golden Cafe members are interesting people doing creative things in the real world. As the storm seemed over I went to my tent and shady structure. Everything was okay. I set out again but the storm came back even harder than before. This time everything was not okay. The metal horizontal struts at the top of the shade structure had snapped causing the tarp to come loose. It was flapping loudly and violently in the wind. The wind was so fierce I could not remove the tarp although it was obvious it was only a matter of time before it would blow off. I sat in my camp chair and held it for quite a while. It was a workout, the blowing tarp versus my biceps. This was the only time at Burning Man I was outside and yet could see no other people. Everybody was huddled in their structures, RVs, buses, domes and yurts, and sealed in to minimize the penetration of playa dust. My goggles were working now. My eye was better, my neighbor had tended to it with saline solution, and the temperature had dropped. Even in the midst of the storm and the structure collapse I was having a blast. Other structures were also damaged by the storm. One of the huge rave domes collapsed. A person was lying on the floor, but was uninjured as the debris fell around him.

Double Rainbow.
After the storm it rained, and a beautiful double rainbow formed. Both arches were thick and full and stretched from horizon point to horizon point; from one end of the city to the other. I met the person who had spray painted "Colbert Says," next to older "N-gon" and "Nude Volley Ball 5pm" tags. He painted my clothes for me with stencils of those slogans and "Free Paul Addis" too. They all had graphics with them. Paul was back in Black Rock City with a sign saying "meet the man who burned the man," and giving autographs.

Bartending.
Saturday I was a bartender at the Dome. The bar was immensely popular and people crowded in for drinks. The drinks were gifts, but we had rules: 1. drink it in our glassware; 2. drink it here; and 3. drink it all. It is just natural to serve the people you like first. For me, they are usually the quieter people who are extremely happy to get their drink first. Golden Cafe drinks are very very good. They are often made with top brand liquor and in batches. An exception is the using up of the donations of more down scale and generic liquor and wine. The Golden Cafe gets a lot of liquor donations and serves it all. The bar is also where the medallion system comes into play. It is part of the bartender's job to recognize the medallions and provide the wearers with the best drinks. I took breaks from bartending to visit people in the neighborhood, and to rest on the couches at the 7:30 plaza. When I would return I would get a heartfelt hug and resume bar tending.

Naked Volleyball, the Blue Pig and the Burning of the Man.
At sunset we played naked volleyball. Afterwards I ate a big meal in the Kitchen with a cup of delicious white wine. The Blue Pig President art car was leaving for the Burning Man soon, but the food was so good I decided to savor it and walk. Serendipitously, the Blue Pig was still there when I was ready to go. It is a two story art car and I rode on top sharing drinks. It positioned itself upwind from the Man to avoid the smoke. I got out not sure of where I was and met several groups of people waiting for the Man to burn. More to my liking was a college freshman from CU and his friends, than a middle aged Brit in a blue blazer. The crowd was too thick to move far. The burning of the Man was preceded by the most massive fireworks display I had ever seen. Then there was an explosion and he was on fire. The explosion did not knock off his arms or even kill the green neon lights on his head right away. After a second the neon went out and after a few minutes his arms fell and the crowd cheered. After some more time he fell over.

The Real Explosion.
After the Man burning I walked quickly toward the Derrick. I picked up a companion and Dutch flag on the way. The companion parted ways with me not wanting to go to the backside to get a front row seat. I did. The front row was on a 1000 foot perimeter around the Derrick. It was a long time until the show began, as the area filled with people. The man sitting next to me had been to almost every Burning Man. He volunteered for entry patrol. People who try to sneak in are usually caught, double fined, and charged for a maximum priced ticket. Some people can however get in Thursday with a discounted ticket found online. A smoke generator poured a thick cloud of smoke. An even more amazing fireworks display than had preceded the burning of the Man began and kept up for a quarter of an hour at least. Big sustained blasts of fireworks of all colors came from several locations in the ground. Then, a 10 foot diameter pipe delivered a mega whoop of nitrogen-propane fuel to the center of the Derrick and there was an enormous explosion. It started with a blinding flash. Then the heat hit us. Then there was a mushroom cloud over the Derrick and it was burning. It was 2.4 gigawatts of raw power in only one minute. The largest flame cannon in history. The tower burned for some time and then fell. The giant sculptures remained.

A Synchronistic Epiphany.
After the explosion I walked to the Sapphire Portal for the last time. Its back door was open and the mixer guy was creating music a little more intense than had been playing there before. I went in the front and moved to it a little, and then out back and spotted a parked art car. It belonged to the Portal and the creator was inside. The girls who had gotten off of it gave me a bracelet and chocolate and told my fortune: "A revelation awaits you. Pause for reflections & a synchronistic epiphany will flash." I gave them the Dutch flag. They left and I climbed to the roof of the project with the people who were hanging out in back. From the roof I saw the Portal car leave. I got high with the guys on the roof. We were sitting, it was a perfect peaceful time. I walked back to camp through the ruins of the Derrick and the Man.

Harlan Emil Gruber.
Harlan Emil Gruber (b. Jan. 14, 1959, NY) is the September 2007 Digital Color Artist of the Month. He created the Sapphire Portal. Harlan has combined his interest in science and art to shape a respected design career. A student of Physics at Emory University and of Electrical Engineering at University of Miami and Georgia Tech, Harlan subsequently received a degree in the field of Environmental Design from Parson School of Design, New York (1985). Harlan has been attending the Burning Man festival in Nevada since 1999 and has created a series of bicycles for it called Playacycles. He has also created large scale sculptures for it: the Mutant Vehicle Labyrinth in 2003, the 11:11 Diamond Portal in 2004 & 2005 and the 12:12 Emerald Portal in 2006. He has become deeply committed to the vision of Burning Man, as it combines his interests in art, design and future habitation.

Burning Man 2007 Wednesday and Thursday.

Burning Man 2007 Wednesday and Thursday.
The Perimeter.
Wednesday I rode the perimeter. Out on the open playa past the campers, going counterclockwise there was first, the place where the water trucks go, and then an emergency services area. Next the Greeters Stations and then the airport. RVs and buses as well as cars were streaming into the Greeter Stations and planes were landing at the airport. The population of Black Rock City was increasing. It reached over 47,000 at its peak. People parachuted in. The air force flew cutting edge fighter jets over the city and they did stunts in mid air. At 2 O'Clock Street (2:00) I took a break from the perimeter to drink at the Skateboard Camp. 2:00 borders the playa so the camps there face out onto the playa. Many of the camps there are dance clubs that have stages and people dance out into the playa. The biggest is Opulent Temple. BRC is set up so the locations of many camps don't change much from year to year. After drinking, I rode out into the playa and encountered a wind skateboarder. He had a board that was like a four wheel furniture cart and a large sail. The winds were gusty but not steady and trouble tacking had left him almost at the perimeter. I rode to a meditation shack. It was red inside and had candles to light and a book to look at and write in. Everything was red. I had the shack to myself for only half a minute or so. Although it was near the perimeter, a long long way out, there were still lots of people there. Most on bicycles, but some walking, most in groups, but some by themselves, like me, all happy to be there and easy to talk to.

Sapphire Portal.
Next came one of my favorites -- the Sapphire Portal. It is a large round roofless aquamarine building with one opening through which people can crawl in. Inside you can see the sky, but not the horizon. A good part of the walls are part of a sophisticated sound system that lets you feel as well as hear music. There is a guy at a mixing board in back creating more meditative music than the punks or ravers, that is to say no electronic drumbeats. He appears to contemplate every movement he makes at the board, even measuring some with a calipers. In the middle of the structure there is a two story platform with pillow and mirrors. People are doing yoga on the platform.

Technology and Art.
Many of the installations were a fusion of technology and art. One was an extremely rapidly rotating stand of LED lights that made 3D images. I pedaled toward it seeing the 3D image of a burning man dissolve in and out of the patterns of light. The artist was there running the device. He told us that they had just finished installing it and had never fully tested it. He saw it work for the first time the same time I did -- in its fully glory at night on the playa. After some time he turned it off and the magic was revealed to be technology.

Big Rig Jig.
Big Rig Jig is a sculpture fashioned from real oil tankers. It kept to the theme of Burning Man 2007 -- the Green Man, instilling thoughts of wonder, fear, instability, nature, and beauty. Mike Ross, the artist, says of his work "Our source objects are fundamental to the world's oil distribution infrastructure, and are pertinent examples of our culture's unmatched production of carbon dioxide. By altering these symbolically rich objects, the sculpture is a celebration of humankind's raw power on earth, a visual metaphor for non-sustainability, and a contemplation of our unique ability to recognize and change our most destructive actions."

Homouroboros.
Another marvel I saw that night was gorillas that appeared to be swinging from monkey bars due to a strobe light effect. The gorillas are mounted on a carousel that is activated by participants pedaling stationary bicycles. The bicycles are arranged in an outer circle beyond the carousel. I later found out this is one of the most popular installations. It is called Homouroboros and is Peter Hudson's third large-scale stroboscopic zoetrope. I knew almost nothing about any of these installations before I came across them. They gave me an enduring sense of awe and wonder.

A Pyramid and a Sunrise Bar.
Another very large installation was a pyramid that shone a spotlight into the sky. The skin of the pyramid inside and out was a planetarium like canvas onto which green dots of light were projected. Inside the pyramid were consoles with colorful images that changed as you touched them. In the middle there was an inner chamber with a keyboard. People played the keyboard and it caused discordant tones to reverberate throughout the installation. A ways away there was a bar that opened at sunrise. I never made it to sunrise, but I will next year.

Neighborhood Walk.
One of the joys of Burning Man is walking around and meeting people. Many people set up their camps to make it inviting for people to visit. I met people who had come as groups of friends, and people who came as natural families. During a walk around I stood still in front a woman on a bike. She stopped in front of me and asked where the center was. I turned around to point to the center and saw, for the first time, the fully reconstructed Burning Man, including his head. He had been headless for a day, but was now fully rebuilt! I sat in a camp with a trampoline and a guy with a lime mohawk who I recognized entered. We hugged in greeting and talked about naked trampoline jumping. I said I would do it if other people did. He said "let's go," and took everything off. I did too and we jumped on the trampoline. It was so fun! We walked out of that camp together and into another one, where they were singing Freebird, and joined them.

Crude Awakening
Thursday night I returned to the Derrick. Its official name is Crude Awakening, by Dan Das Mann, Karen Cusolito, Black Rock FX, Pyrokinetics, Nate Smith, Mark Perez and MonkeyBoy. Nine figurative steel sculptures, weighing 7 tons each and standing 30' tall, embody the faithful. In their various poses of worship from around the world, they bow down and reach forth to the Revered Oil Derrick, that icon of the religion which now stands above all others. The nine faithful belch their fiery prayers from within and around their bodies. Each figure is bound by a participant-activated fire effect, created by Pyrokinetics. The Derrick is a 90' tall wooden tower. The stairs to the upper platform had just been completed and I climbed up and stayed for a long time looking out on Black Rock City -- the Rave domes, the strobing Homouroboros, the gleaming Sapphire Portal and a million other lights.

The Firetruck.
After the climbing down from the Derrick I returned again to Skateboard camp. They recognized me now. I had given them apples, tomatoes, nectarines and candy. They filled one of my water bottles with Rum and Coke. I sat down on one of their couches and shared the drink with the guy who was sitting there. He told me that his bike had been stolen, so we made plans to get on an art car. The first one we tried to board said they were full, and they added vodka cranberry to our drink making it taste funny. The next art car we didn't even ask. There was room enough and we ran after it and jumped on the back. It was a converted fire truck. They added a massive amount of vodka to our drink which made it taste wonderful again. The Firetruck blasted music with a beat and stopped at the Sapphire Portal. We went in and my drinking buddy stood on the pedestal in the middle and felt the music through his feet. The Firetruck also stopped at the Homouroboros and other far out installations. When the Firetruck was about to leave a location it spouted fire and honked so all the people could get back on before it left.

Burning Man 2007 Monday and Tuesday.

Burning Man 2007 Monday and Tuesday.
Welcome Home.
On Monday a dust storm blew as I entered the Burning Man gates into Black Rock City for the first time. Greeters in fanciful dust masks and goggles got me out of the car and spanked me. I rolled around in the dust and rang a gong. They gave me maps, a Schedule of Events and said "Welcome Home."

Building the Kitchen.
At my camp, the Golden Cafe, the bar, a large dome, was complete. The kitchen, a huge steel pipe structure was, however, only partially up because the pipe wouldn't fit into the couplings. They were grinding down the steel to make the pipes fit. A lot of steel had to be ground off. I helped a little. The process involved pressure, persistence, patience and enduring lots of sparks.

A Ride in the Dark.
After sunset I rode my bicycle into the playa toward the Burning Man. The playa is a dry lake bed. Art vehicles roamed around, some small, some huge like parade floats. They blasted rave and techno music, some Grateful Dead too. They had different themes that are hinted at by their names: Blue Pig, Firetruck, Fire Breathing Dragon, Mushroom, Rabbit, Duck, Pirate Ship, etc.

Eclipse.
I passed a camp with a half pipe. A kid jumped out and yelled, "Stop, you gotta stop . . . and get some booze." I did. Their camp was like a three room house constructed of 2x4s. They had lots of couches, inside and out. We got high. After some time they cut their lights, as did the neighboring camps, to view the total lunar eclipse. I saw the green neon on the Man blink off. Somebody yelled "the Man's on fire." He was! The man had been burned prematurely by Paul Addis.

More Fire!
There is a lot of fire. Fireworks go off at random times. There are fire jugglers. Iron cauldrons of burning wood put out so much heat you cannot get too close. Then there are fire shows. At one, people hit a lever with a mallet to send a metal disc up a tower. Sometimes, if the disc goes high enough fire shoots out the top of the tower. But, watch for a while and you will see there is really a guy with a button and the fire shoots out when he presses it! And, of course, dance immolation. Players dance frenetically with fire suits on and fire shoots out of many different places on the set in step with their dancing. Lots of art cars and art exhibits also shoot flames, big ones.

Completing the Kitchen.
Tuesday, after sunrise I found people had been working all night on the Golden Cafe infrastructure. Again, I helped, a little. When we were done, we had a magnificent 15' high, 30' wide, 60' long structure with a tarp ceiling and sides. It was powered by a bank of fan cooled generators surrounded by sound dampening panels. The generators powered lights, freezers, refrigerators, a microwave, a hot water heater and pumps. The hot water heater heated water to 122 degrees for two camp showers and a carved marble sink behind the Kitchen. The sink was connected with pipe, not tubes, so that it wouldn't clog.

Skateboard Camp.
A musician went with me on a daytime bike ride. We went to the Derrick, the largest art installation, a wooden oil derrick and wire sculptures of giants praying to it in different positions. We went then to the Skateboard camp. They played original punk rock on the roof. Their main carpenter had a crutch and hobbled along the bike filled street pretending to be crippled and falling down. We laughed from the couches and ate fruit. We listened to the music and doodled on the wood. I briefly rode one of the green "Free Yellow Bikes" that had been donated.

Distant Art Installations.
After parting with my musician friend, I rode out to the most distant art installations. Several of them were shady places to rest with interesting furnishings. Some had roosts to climb on and look out. Some had keyboards or a piano to play. Many had mirrors. Many had sounds. Some were just a few artfully placed lights powered by a solar generator. Not all of them are running all the time. Sometimes the artist is hanging out at the installation she has created.

Nakedness and Costumes.
Many people go about the festival naked in the day. Most are tattooed. At night people wear costumes. Popular are skirts for the men and anything with lights or that glows. Bicycles are decorated too, with blinking lights and glow sticks.

Black Rock City.
Black Rock City has streets radiating outward from the inner playa. Center Camp has art exhibits, stages and performances. The major streets are lit by lamp, but the light is dim compared to the brighter lights of the camps that line the streets. Water trucks drive slowly on the streets spraying water out the back to keep the dust down. Naked people follow behind to keep cool. Art cars drive along too, barking which camp they are from and why everyone should go there. Spaces are reserved for theme camps and villages, which do have themes, such as raves, circuses, bars, art modeling, pancake making, musical style, trampoline jumping, nude volleyball or other things. There is also space reserved for walk-in camping. Otherwise, one can camp anywhere in the named street area.

The Golden Cafe.
The theme of Golden Cafe is drinks in glassware and gourmet food and its mascot is a golden calf. All camp members pay dues that go to camp expenses. Some people also make substantial additional donations. The centerpiece of the Golden Cafe is a dome with a bar. Wonderful musicians perform as we serve drinks and 'tapas.' Tapas means appetizers in Spanish cuisine, but in the Golden Dome they were a variety of delicious food from everywhere. Bread crusted eggplant, spicy bread, brownies, salads, potato tacos, vegan burritos, banana pancakes, lamb, flank steak, coconut chicken, tandoori chicken, sausage, shrimp, veggie chili in bread bowls, even lobster. The lobsters swam in a tank in the bar before they were cooked. Golden Cafe campers had gold medallions to identify themselves. Friends of the the camp had copper medallions and the musicians had blue ones.