Yes We Can

Turning aluminum into art through the meduim of money, Yes We Can is a current project that will use funds from recycled aluminum cans from the NECTr festival in Connecticut in the fall of 2017 to fund an art exchange program with another small, regional burn. Yes We Can takes the burden of recycling off of the individual and pools the benefits of recycling to all, in the form of new art at future festivals. This project is inspired by a similar one by Heyu Kelly of Chicago and is funded through an infrastructure grant from the NECTr festival.

The Furry ALL

Because sometimes you just really need to stroke the Furry ALL. Made in 2015, the Furry ALL is an ultraplush 2' x 6' sculpture of furry letters "ALL" in soft mint-green fur, light by warm white LEDs. As you stroke the letters, you'll feel them softly purring to your touch, and you'll hear and feel the deep purr noises coming from the ALL. A spoof of the Furry Wall in the movie, "Get Him to the Greek," the Furry ALL offers comfort and wonder and is a great tribute to our feline friends. The Furry ALL was lovingly supported by the Firefly Arts Collective art grant program.

CuriousiTEA

The CuriousiTEA was a traveling Tea Cart, trailed by bike, that roamed the streets of Somerville, the woods of a Vermont festival, and finally the deep desert of the Burning Man festival in 2011. It was meticulously hand-constructed at the Artisan's Asylum during an artist-in-residency program there, making use of their machining shop to create the bicycle trailer and U-joint, their CNC to create the signage, and their woodwooking shop to create the tea cart. The letters were formed by EL wire and individually controlled so the tea master could spell out such messages like "IOU Tea". Battery-operated blacklights illuminated the hand-painted front and top. The tea ware was made at the Boston Center for Adult Education's ceramics program.

The Temple of Tears

Firefly's first temple, built in 2013, by Sage Kochavi and Abe Shultz with the assistance of the Firefly community including Kosta Zavras, Stephanie, Sparr, Gearhead Liz, Firetiger, Wayne Fridrich, and others. The interior featured an hollow shape in the form of the 3-D extracted Seed of Life. Participants were welcome to sit inside a hollowed sphere, to write on the walls, and eventually witness its immolation. We thank the support of the Firefy Arts Collective Board for funding and support for this project.

FnOREST

A dense, colorful forest of silky cords dangles from above. Wade in, lose your sense of perspective and enjoy the tiny touches as you meander through. The FnOREST's colors change with the RGB LEDs. Lie down and enjoy the sinusoidal writhings of the strings as they disappear into the fog above. The FnOREST was created with a grant from the Playa del Fuego festival of Delaware and beloved by thousands since its inception in 2006. It's been installed in many locations inclucing San Francisco's inaugural Lost Horizon Night Market.

SoLA (Seed of Life Activation)

In 2004, the Burningman Organization granted funds for the creation of a large-array lighting sculpture called SoLA, in the form of 450 RGB LED light pods interconnected in 7 intersecting circles in the shape of the Seed of Life. At the intersection points were larger Activation Disks. By standing on the disks, participants would trigger lightshows that related to the positions of the participants. The project was 80' wide and took the love and labor of 50 volunteers from the Boston area and beyond. It was created in a series of worknights at the original Redtail community space. Conceived of by Sage Kochavi and Ryan Wartena, SoLA was facilitated by the engineering magic of Cris Wagner and donations of material and expertise of our friends at Color Kinetics including Carl Gruesz and Frostbyte, with a special acknowledgement to Liza Vitale and Mike Buckland.