Art Farm Motel

"Bloom"-Collab with students from Oak Grove....

2011-08-15T16:22:00.000-07:00

Forgot to post this earlier. This was done with students from Oak Grove Elementary and Willowside Middle School this last Spring and auctioned to support their art's programs. A great success ($2500.00!) and great fun collaborating with so many great young artists. Special thanks to Oak Grove's art teacher Meryl Juniper for getting me involved in this. "Bloom" 36"x36" (click to enlarge-and then click again for drawing details)

Three Art Farm Shows!

2010-02-27T11:25:00.001-08:00

Wow, the stars are in alignment I guess...there are currently (or soon to be) three different shows featuring all five major Art Farm pieces. The first has it's opening this Thursday, March 4th at the Sonoma State University Art Gallery (from 4:00-7:00) as part of the "Sideshow" exhibit, celebrating the art of the Hand-Car Regatta, and features "The Game Of Hope Or Fear" and "Fortuna"-(click to enlarge)

Then, the following night, over in Oakland, two other Art Farm pieces-"HeadGames" (our first piece from 2005) and another section from 2006's "Hope Or Fear" trilogy-"Portrait Of A Girl" will be shown at Kuhl Frames + Art at 22nd Street and Broadway as part of Oakland's "Art Murmer" (their really cool first-Friday art-walk). That reception is between 6:00-9:00.

And finally (though not least) is our inclusion of "Portrait Of A Boy" (also from the "Hope Or Fear" trilogy) in San Francisco's Project One Gallery show "Anxiety" -curated by Christine Kristen (Burning Man's LadyBee). That show opens on April 7th. (more info to come on that one!)Lisa and I will be at all shows and several other Art Farm artists will be attending as well. Hope to see you there!

the Day After: the Fabulous Hand-Car Regatta

2008-09-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

... a smattering of photos from today's event.
Thank you! to the event organizers Spring & Ty, (and everyone else) who helped to create this event.

And keep your eye on their great Hand-Car Regatta website-- I bet they'll have some follow-up photos of the actual Hand-Cars & the racing. (click on any image to see it big.)

Check out this enthusiastic review, and this just in: video! via the Press Democrat.

the Shrine rises again...

2008-09-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

...this time near Railroad Square in Santa Rosa, as part of the sure-to-be-fabulous Handcar Regatta.

Coming soon...

2008-09-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

...many more pictures from the Shrine at Burning Man...

and the next opportunity to see the Shrine?
Santa Rosa's first ever
Hand Car Regatta,
shaping up to be quite an exciting event-- see the website here.

the 'Shrine' at Burning Man

2008-09-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

(as always, click to enlarge)
Success!
We made it (barely) to Burning Man and (barely) lived to tell the tale!
Michael and I left Graton at around nine on Tuesday night and arrived at Black Rock City at about 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday and after a two hour nap at our camp (the beautiful and peaceful "Harmony in the Dessert" camp) we worked until sundown, just the two of us (with the exception of a nice young woman named Pet, who did her best to help and encourage us) and at that point, no generator yet. Not our most fun day.Me and Pet, doing her best to cheer us on.

The next day was an entirely different animal, as my friends Terry (Retro), and Natalie and her daughter Maddy came by and suggested I go over to "Volunteer Camp" (or as they called it-The "V" Spot). Well, almost immediately we had help. We had so much help that at one point we had to turn people away!Look! Lots of helpers!

And those that we didn't turn away quickly became some of our favorite Black Rock City encounters. Thanks Kelsey, and Ron, and red cowboy hat-we forgot your name!, but our most heartfelt thanks go to Ben (Beaner) and Will (below)--true playa heros! They were with us almost the entire day, helping us build, even bringing us cold beer (oh my God, the best beer of my adult life!)--we truly can't thank them, and everyone who helped us that day, enough.
We also finally got our generator (courtesy of Easel Park, and thanks to Phyxx) and so by late Thursday, our Shrine was almost assembled. MC went off for some well deserved rest (he worked so hard and with so few breaks that his muscles started seizing up and cramping, plus at one point he basically drilled a screw thru half of one of his fingers!-Arghh, the playa surely can test a man!) and I lingered for a bit, mostly anonymously to watch people check out our piece.
And then just as I finally packed it in at around 2:00 a.m.-Lisa and Else and Pati arrived! So of course we all had to go back out to the playa for a look-see. I got back at 5:00, everyone else as the sun rose.
Finally, after some good rest, and a slow morning/afternoon--and now with Lisa's and Else's help too, we got the last details done. Here Lisa helps me with the curtains.Else walks towards the back after helping with the wiring and lights. I'm in the back hoping Lois and Mark's "Wiring For Dummies" instructions passes the true dummy-test.Pati brings us a much needed snack! Yum! And when we finally hooked up Mark's special lighting effects to our wheel of fortune and gave her a spin-we all let out a triumphant roar as we saw that indeed-it all worked!
And from that moment until late Monday afternoon, when MC, Else, and I broke it all down, there wasn't a minute that our shrine wasn't being explored and appreciated by someone, and often, by dozens at a time.

(this last photo above was taken by Kraig Meyer, pulled from Flickr)

So to all Art Farmers--a huge thanks for being part of this amazing experience! To all the drawers, thank you!-especially Joe Leonard, Jason D'Aquino, Thomas Yeats, Lori Almeida, Neng Yang, David Aguayo (a big thanks to you!), MJ Lindo, Claire Cotts, Gary Amaro, Lisa B, Else Olava, & Erik Friedman, along with Jaclyn Finkle, Olivia Yeats, Joe Balestreri, Drew and Ruthie Merritt, Michael and Truman Coy, Sandra Maresca, Richard Hensley, Chris and Zeke Hataway, Leslie Zumwalt, Barry Stone, Kim Webster, Amy Stabler, John James, Joel Beck, Bob Stang, Rebecca Scalf, Meika Stang, Anna Kallas, John, Ted, and Carl Ballantine, Pati Wilson, Barbara Jeppesson, and I bet I'm forgetting a few...hopefully not for long.
To Stacey Moltchanoff and Sarah Campbell and Steve Tierra and Drew again--thanks for excellent scissor work!
To the wheel team-Phyxx, you out-did yourself...such a beautiful mechanism! Else-great work again. And Lisa, well, this is the best one yet. Also thanks to all who contributed fortunes to our wheel.
To the painting crew-Else, Lisa B, MC, and Drew (again!), and Nadise Whiteside.
To the fabric team-Laurie Smyth and Ruthie Merritt and Lisa B, -you all rock! Thanks Ruthie for all the encouragement and enthusiasm!
Thanks to Wendy Addison for the books and inspiration.
To Mark and Lois-when we asked for something extra with lighting, I knew we asked the right people. Dr. Danger- you were so much there when we let out our triumphant cheer when we realized our ( your) lighting worked! Yay!
And I gotta say biggest thanks to the Shrine builders--especially to Michael Coy for not only building the Shrine (twice now), but co-designing the mother as well. It was bigger than we both originally thought, but man did it look great! And l owe you a case of Pepsi for the back painting.
And Tim McG.- we truly couldn't have done it without you. In a piece all about luck-you were the good luck we were always hoping for. Same goes to our younger crew--especially Drew and Truman, but you too Jackson and Pearce. Thanks for rockin' it back there. And Else-thanks again for all your work and energy. You were so huge to our project. Are you recovered yet?
Last and not least, our neighbor Catherine, who donated her back yard for almost two months of insanity. I actually thought we could do this in our driveway???
Thank you everyone!!!
MC, Tony, Lisa, Else, Pati

Our Transport Saga, continued!

2008-08-25T16:33:00.000-07:00

Well, if you're on Northbay Burner mailing lists, you have heard bits of our plight. "Fortuna", due to a series of missed communications (we guess, noone knows for sure) has been stranded in our (wonderful) neighbor Catherine's back yard, without a ride to her destination at Burning Man '08.

Stay tuned...

at sunset last evening...

2008-08-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

from the back...

2008-08-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

Here, some shots as things start to take on more visibly finished form... It's this back (the blue) that Michael & Else finished over the previous night. Later, last night, things were completely dis-assembled for packing.

There now appears to be some question about how its all going to get there... Seems like our trailer-pulling truck may have headed off without us.

Back-up plan?

The Night Crew

2008-08-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

These two worked yesterday... all through the night... and they're out there still (5pm).
Art Farm Medal of Valor recipients.

And then there was FABRIC

2008-08-22T11:34:00.004-07:00

We were thinking that a little theatrical draping might help to frame Fortuna well... and lo & behold, 2 of our friends (Ruthie & Laurie) are fabric mavens-- AND long lost friends! They appeared to have a good time sewing up a beautiful storm yesterday...

where we'll be: 3:45 & 'B' street

2008-08-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

This just in... (the group we're camping with is named Harmony, or Harmony in the Desert, FYI...)

"If you happen to be coming in at night, you'll see a huge beamer light coming off the top of our truss (smaller than some we have, but think luxor and visible from accross the playa), and colored lights just above the parachute... otherwise we shouldn't be too hard to find during the day if you remember 3:45 and B. We have a big green parachute (but there are a few others around also), 2 converted school busses, oh yeah, and look for all the lawn swings! (A number of our campmates have lawn swings as art cars... if you see anyone driving a swing out there - they are probably one of us!)"

Two Days Left!!

2008-08-20T02:48:00.000-07:00

How time flies when yer havin' fun. Um, it also flies when you're about a week behind on a project that has only two more days left, but, whatever. It'll get there.Our newest Art Farmer, Else Olava, a very talented and dedicated (!) artist. Talk about good luck.Nadise Whiteside, a graphic artist in Occidental, heard about the project and stopped by to help. Thanks Nadise! And the ever awesome Michael Coy is seen in the background-but where's the ever awesome Tim McGinniss? He's there somewhere.Else continues her "Fortuna" siding painting.and I finally make some (slow) progress on our actual goddess. Take your time Tony, you've got a whole day left.

go team, go!

2008-08-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

Not too many pictures got taken yesterday, but this was the scene near 9pm last night. Painting has begun in earnest.

...and did we mention that there'd be lights? Not just basic lights, *special* lights. Mark "Suits of Light' Ferrari (aka Dr. Danger) & Lois arrived last night with the lighting plan, and an infusion of other needed elements. Mmmm, In and Out burgers and Zachery's pizza and mmmm, beer!

--L

The Latest Drawing

2008-08-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

(Lisa here) When I woke this morning, I found this drawing done by a sleepless Tony, showing current visions of the piece (o, so much to do in three more days!) This drawing is probably meant to aid in color choices. Tony's been looking to imagery of gypsy wagons, as potential color sources (below, some images culled from the 'net)

...and true to Tony's multi-cultural approach, he's also looking to Tibetan Temple decoration.

Fortuna's Face

2008-08-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

...develops slowly... fortunately, this part (the transparent glazes that build up the volume of her face)-- goes pretty quickly. Below, the sketch Tony's working from.
--L

Yesterday's Progress

2008-08-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

Lisa here, blogging for Tony (cuz man, that guy has his hands full!) We had a good sized crew here yesterday, making progress on the Shrine Structure (or maybe now it's been upgraded to 'Temple' status?) Photos show, including Tony, Drew & Michael, Drew's brother Pierce, doing a ton of priming for us!

And fear not, those gorgeous sunsets & full moons have not been lost on this crew.

Last Drawing Day!

2008-08-13T05:23:00.001-07:00

It's Five in the morning on the last drawing day before I begin the portrait painting.

Went over to Bob and Rebecca's for a reunion Monday Night Dinner--both to celebrate Rebecca's 40th B/day, as well as the temporary return of Anna! Of course-as promised, I got most of those in attendance to do a drawing --so thanks one and all (Bob, Rebecca, Ted and John, Anna, Erik, Claire and Gary, Prentiss, Leonardo, ...did I miss anyone?)

Jaclyn and David and Drew came over again, as well as two friends of Jaclyn's, Stacey and Sarah. Thanks to you all! And of course, MC and Tim, continuing the progress on the shrine itself. Tim and Drew worked until dusk--I'll get a good shot of the shrine tomorrow...
And here's a progress shot of Lisa's top plywood skirting. This is gonna look great!
And the shot from the studio just a short while ago. Click to enlarge.

10 Days Left!

2008-08-11T11:17:00.000-07:00

I wasn't too swift on camera duties yesterday for our last drawing party, but there was a good group of drawers (including Joe Leonard--one of our highest volume contributors, and David (once again); Thomas, Lori, and Olivia, and Richard (a former student of Lisa's); Drew helped out once again, and we got some nice drawings from Chris Hataway, who visited with son Zeke! And then their were our "surprise" guests-- East Bay friend Amy Stabler; and Jaclyn Finkle, an inspiringly talented young woman that I worked with at the ArtStart program earlier this summer.
Thank you everyone! With two drawing days left before the painting begins, it's looking really great. Now if I can just get a few from our old "Monday Night Dinner" group tonight. David, Lori and Thomas
Joe, David, Lori
Chris and Zeke
Jaclyn
Fortuna
detail
detaildetail

Fifteen Days Left!

2008-08-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

Here's what she looked like last night at 4:00. But hey, where's the top of her head? Ummm...I'll get back to you on that.
Meanwhile, back at the Shrine...floor joists!
This is the plywood skirting that will hang down from under the eaves. Lisa starts sketching out a pattern that MC suggested. Nice!

The Shrine Begins To Take Shape

2008-08-04T16:42:00.000-07:00

Truman and Drew above, Tim McGinnis and MC below

One more week left to contribute drawings! For info-scroll down a few posts.
A huge day forward for the shrine! MC and crew ( his son Truman, Tim McGinniss, and Truman's band-mate Drew) totally rocked it out back, and after a long day, the shrine is taking shape.
Concurrently, we had another drawing party and Lori, Thomas, Olivia, their friend Joe, and David, Sandra Maresca, and Drew's mom, Ruthie all contributed some fine drawings. And while I didn't manage to get any drawing time in, Lisa continued to supply some really nice pieces. THANK YOU EVERYBODY!!!
Also, Jason D'Aquino sent us some amazing images. We're still tweaking them a bit to get them to stand out, so I'll post a few soon.
the drill team
here's the view from our gracious neighbor Catherine's back yard looking toward the back of Lisa's and my studio. We figure when it's all done it'll stand a foot and a half taller than our 15 foot tall studio. Yikes!
Two Art Farmers--David Aguayo (who has been such a great help on this project) and Ruthie.
Lori and Sandra Maresca also hard at work at the drawing. No pictures this time of Thomas and Olivia, but they also added more of their magic.

15 Drawing Days Left!

2008-07-30T00:03:00.000-07:00

Closing in on the half-way mark, but if you are new to this blog and want to be part of our latest project, there's still time!
Scroll down for details. Here's the latest progress shots of our cut but not-yet-glued contributions. Thanks to Joe Leonard, Claire Cotts and Gary Amaro for some of the latest. And I've got some more names to add as soon as I print them out, hopefully tomorrow. And soon the Shrine structure itself will be staring in some progress shots. This last picture here is the little collaborative mock-up by Phyxx and MC and me.
(click to enlarge. Good shots to show how we start weaving the drawings and copies together.)

1st Art Farm Gathering

2008-07-23T11:02:00.000-07:00

(If you are new here and/or wish to see guidelines for contributing artwork to this project, scroll down to previous post)

Well, things are slowly ramping up here--had our first drawing party last Sunday (remember; drawing parties now every Wed. and Sunday from 2:00 on for next three weeks). Still haven't cut and glued in any new drawings-but here's a few shots.
Thanks MC and Phyxx and Lori and Thomas and Olivia! Also huge thanks to MJ Lindo (from Art Start). Where are the other awesome Art Starters? OK-you probably needed a week off.
above is Lori Almeida, MC, and me (Tony). Next to me is a smaller Art Farm piece still under way.
details
Lori's cool hand
After the drawing party.

First Progress shots of "Fortuna"

2008-07-15T20:44:00.000-07:00

I shot this a few nights ago...it shows our Fortuna outline and the first drawings (most on separate paper that hasn't been glued down yet)

For those that are new or past contributing artists, you can scroll down and read about the concept behind our new piece-"The Shrine of Fortuna". For those that wish to contribute their drawings (or more likely, good quality copies or scanned jpegs), we would LOVE to include your magic in our piece! Here's what we need: drawings that in any way relate to the theme of Fortune, Fate, Luck (both good or bad!) and Superstition. Drawings can be as small as several inches to 16 inches and generally we favor a good dark pencil or pen and ink, with a good outline (not too sketchy-we cut the drawings out and glue them down to our wood panels) Because we paint a portrait transparently over the varnished drawings, it's best if there isn't alot of solid black, but some shading is fine. If you check out the details from a past piece-"Headgames" on the post from March 2006 in the archives-- it may help you to visualize the kinds of drawings that we can use.

We'll also be collecting suggestions to write on our "Wheel of Fortune". Have a favorite fortune that you'd like to share? We'd love to hear about it, especially if it is thought or smile provoking.

Okay: to send us images (or fortunes)--you can e-mail (jpegs of 300dpi) to me (Tony) at: fallguy@sonic.net
-or you can send drawings or good quality xeroxes to: Art Farm Motel 211 Donald Street, Graton Calif 95444
Or stop on by-we should be around almost every day now--especially on Sundays and Wednesdays from 2:00 on for our drawing parties, where you can draw here with us or make copies from drawings or sketchbooks you bring. We're located in the 'lil town of Graton, three miles north and a bit west of Sebastopol. From hiway 116, go until you reach Graton rd., turn left and go until you come in to town. At the stop there (by the Underwood and Willowood restaurants) turn left on Eddison, go two blocks to another stop. Turn left again (on Donald) and we're the third house on the right--with the Art Farm painting on our garage door. The studio is in the back yard.
We cannot promise that all drawings will be used (but we'll try). If we do include your images, we want to list all contributors to Art Farm, so please include your name and city (and e-mail too, if possible, so we can tell you of future events for this and other Art Farm projects.)
Thanks to all past and future Art Farm contributors!

"Hope or Fear" on Magazine Cover!

2008-04-15T01:36:00.000-07:00

(click image for enlargement)
The East Bay Monthly has put this detail from "Hope or Fear" on their May cover. Looks nice!

Art Farm's 2008 Burning Man Proposal Wins Grant!

2008-02-24T16:12:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all at Burning Man once again for encouraging our foolishness. Here's our up-dated sketch, front and side view followed by a repeat of our concept-(as always, click to enlarge)
"The Shrine Of Fortuna"
A painting and altar installation proposal by Art Farm (Tony Speirs-designer)
Art Farm, the collective behind 2005's "HeadGames" & 2006's pavilion installation "The Game of Hope or Fear" are back with another mixed-media painting project.
This piece will feature an 8 foot by 12 foot depiction of Fortuna, the beautiful goddess of fortune and fate. Why Fortuna? In some ways, the theme grows out of the previous two pieces we made, both of which also employed spinning wheels and some aspect of game-playing and chance. We decided to personify the element of luck and create a shrine to the goddess herself.
She will be on a raised platform, painted and inscribed with symbols and perhaps prose relating to luck. And once again, the entire surface of the painting will be covered with hundreds of drawings, all touching on some aspect of fortune, chance, and luck-- both good and bad. These might include depictions of "lucky" charms, or talismans, or animals, thought to be omens of either good fortune or bad mojo. Or perhaps the drawings will be small stories--figures (real or imagined) that tell a tale of fate or superstition(above is a detail from our "Hope or Fear" piece)
Art Farm once again invites artists to participate by sharing their own visions of what "Lady Luck" might have tucked away behind that beautiful face of hers. In addition, there will also be a large "Wheel of Fortune" in front of our goddess, (half of which descends below the platform level) and we will feature an array of, we hope, amazing and thought-provoking fortunes. (Have a favorite fortune you've been saving and would like to share?-let us know!)
Participants may also make a direct plea or request of the goddess by writing on small colorful tags that they then attach to the side walls, becoming part of the piece. Lights will be recessed within the altar's eves above the painting. (We also know that Black Rock City has some fine and original fortune tellers, and we would welcome them to use our shrine as a gathering and meeting place to ply their craft. In addition, perhaps it would serve as an ideal backdrop for some wandering performers...?) Guidelines for fortune and drawing submittals will be posted soon, or you can e-mail Tony at- fallguy@sonic.net.
Thanks!

"Bringing Back The Fire" Opening Photos-

2008-02-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

What a great show! And what a great opening too! While this blog definitely concentrates on all things Art Farm related-ALL the art in this show was kick-ass! Thanks Zack (our North Bay Regional point-person extrordinaire!), Cliff, Michael, SRJC, and fellow artists, but mostly thanks to Lisa for curating a really great show. For more-head on over to the blog she created for the event--here
above, at the Thursday preview show. below-a colorful character at Friday night's show (photos below by Clifford Hill)the crowd
an admirer of two of Jennybird Alcantera's paintings
Petaluma artists and veteran Burners Noah Elias and Jack Haye in front of another Jennybird painting

"The Game of Hope or Fear" at SRJC Show "Bringing Back The Fire"

2008-02-15T02:49:00.000-08:00

getting the Game Board upright and in placeMichael Coy drawing out a diagram on his favorite suface (a real "hands-on" kind of guy. sorry)

Michael McGinnis-the SRJC Gallery exhibit specialist, did the real heavy lifting as far as installing our three walls. Much thanks Michael-and to his brother Tim, especially with getting the spinning wheels up and spinning
Jennybird Alcantara and her husband John surveying the scene

Finishing Up "Hope or Fear" for new Burning Man show @ Santa Rosa Junior College

2008-02-05T02:22:00.000-08:00

Lisa is curating a show at the SRJC's great new gallery later this month, and it's given me a chance to go back into the huge Art Farm piece "The Game of Hope or Fear" and finish up some details that didn't quite get done for Burning Man 2006. Gary Amaro did a great job in designing and then doing the preliminary painting of the birds, but it was always the intension to tighten them up and flesh them out-- now finally I have some time. Click to enlarge-especially the bottom two.

You might also notice that there's been a lot more drawings added-especially around the birds. The wheels have been re-painted too. (as always--click for more detail)

2008 Burning Man Proposal

2008-01-25T01:44:00.000-08:00

Here's this year's Burning Man proposal-"The Shrine of Fortuna"(sorry it's such a bad photo-- I'll try to get a better one up soon)
This piece will be a depiction of Fortuna, the goddess of fortune and fate. She will be on a raised platform, painted and inscribed with symbols and perhaps prose relating to luck. And once again, the entire surface of the painting will be covered with hundreds of drawings-all touching on some aspect of fortune, chance, and luck-- both good and bad. These might include depictions of "lucky" charms, or talismans, or animals, thought to be omens of either good fortune or bad mojo. Or perhaps the drawings will be small stories--figures (real or imagined) that tell a tale of fate or superstition. Art Farm once again invites artists to participate by sharing their own visions of what "Lady Luck" might have tucked away behind that beautiful face of hers. In addition, there will also be a large "Wheel of Fortune" in front of our goddess, and we will be looking for an array of, we hope, amazing and thought-provoking fortunes to add to it. Have a favorite that you'd like to share? Guidelines for fortune and drawing submittals to follow soon.

Art Farm's "Head Games" at Santa Cruz Museum!

2007-12-14T01:03:00.000-08:00

The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History is having a show called "Close to the Flame: In the Spirit of Burning Man", opening Dec.14, 2007 and running thru Feb. 3, 2008. Here's a foto-Me doing some touch-ups (you can't really appreciate it from this shot-but the piece is 12 feet tall and so is the room here-and it's about as tight as possible-thanks again Robbie for your magic in installing it)

"Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl"

2007-03-25T00:55:00.000-07:00

This isn't really a true Art Farm piece, as I did it almost totally solo (Lisa drew some of the snakes and a few plants)-but I really wanted to see how the approach would work on a smaller scale. This isn't the greatest shot of it, but you get the idea.(click for a really large blow-up)

"The Game Of Hope or Fear" in the Pavilion, Burning Man 2006

2006-09-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

Wow, I was only out of it for a week-not bad for Burning Man.
Well, the piece went up and it looked much better than these photos could show. If you were there you know. People really seemed to like the piece-and I know some that loved it. It was fun meeting them all. And our camp was great this year-really good times. And good energy (when we had some). And if you are one of the artists that contributed drawings for the piece and you were there-- first, I hope I did right by your work-- I tried my best to honor all the great contributions and hope you liked the piece, so yeh, again and always, thank you tons for helping to make it. (When I collect myself further I'll post all the names of the artists that participated in the piece as well as info on up-coming showings of it.)
Here are some pics of "The Game of Hope or Fear" as installed in The Pavilion in Black Rock City.
from outside the Pavilion (a glimpse of Alex Grey's back-entrance installaton "suite")
then through to our piece (with some from above on the deck beneath the Man).

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO HELPED, AND EVERYONE THAT LIKED THE PIECE AND SMILED, AND MADE UP THEIR OWN RULES OF HOW TO PLAY THE GAME AND THOSE THAT SAID ALOUD "HOW WAS THIS DONE?!", AND THANKED US.
IT WAS DONE ESPECIALLY FOR YOU!

AND... check out these amazing panoramic shots, sent to us by Gene Cooper, who was involved with the project next to us in the 'pavilion'. Click on "Full Screen", and use your mouse to navigate. Our 'Game' piece appears in the photo third from the bottom...

360 Burning Man Views

going, going, gone

2006-08-27T22:32:00.000-07:00

...as of 11:30pm last night they were in Sparks Nevada, so I have every reason to believe they arrived on the playa near 2am.
Today will be a busy day of installation...

FINISHED!

2006-08-26T23:14:00.000-07:00

(composite shot without the bird panels--click to enlarge)

Thank you to all the artists and other contributers that helped make this huge project a reality-
Thank You!
Wendy Addison, Jennybird Alcantara, Lori Almeida,Gary Amaro , Lauren Ari, Todd Barricklow, Christopher Blaz, Michael Briganti, Ross Campbell, Margaret Clayton, Bill Collins, Claire B. Cotts, Michael Coy, Truman Coy, Jason D'Aquino, Troy DeBraal, Marylu Downing, Lisa Drostova, Barbara Elliot, Julian Farmer-Bowers, Mark Ferrari, David Fleischmann, Tom (Flip) Flournoy, Erik Friedman, Paul Gower, Wendy Halenbeck, Vaughn Hannon, Kevin Harden, Ema Harris-Sintamarian, Chris Hataway, Don Jackson, Donna Jackson, D. Lasdow, Joe Leonard, Lois Lyons, Monica Madeiros, Eric Martin, Richard Martin, Manny Martinez, Claire Maxfield, Lauren Maxfield, Chris McKee, Cassandra Mittlestead, Sequoia Raven Moon, Lex Monkey, Eric Nielsen, Mary Jean Nixon, Rik Olsen, Giovanni Pacheco, Marcel Patzwald, Tara Reck, Mike Reynolds, Adam Rosendahl, Melissa Santala, Marc Scheff, Paul Schneider, Irene Scott, Patrick Scott, Judith Selby-Lang, Nat Schumacher, Jeff Shauger, William Smith, Nancy Speir, Suzanna Stinnett, Charles Swensen, Mike Terry, Trine, Mario Uribe, Graham White, Pati Wilson, SallyAnn Wolanczyk, Neng Yang, Michael Yeates, Olivia Yeates, Thomas Yeates, Bob and Peter and Lori--I don't know your last names yet!, and hmm, maybe you. Cheers one and all!

soon, soon...

2006-08-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

all this will be leaving for the playa.
In the meantime, added glazes push these pieces along, and stamps add lettering to the game wheels, and Lisa writes in the Game Board captions-and we find and paint our game pegs... (click to enlarge)

Two Days Left!!

2006-08-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well, ok, now we're finally getting there. Lisa kicked some ass yesterday in her glazing-and our hero Lori came by once again to finish drawing in the snakes on the "girl" panel-who should be looking like the "boy" by late tonight."You should not have come back...hmmm, the force is strong in this one...oh well."

Sunday Night at the Art Farm

2006-08-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

The Game Board. Lisa spent the weekend working up a beautiful set of warm color washes (or "glazes") for the game board. My late-night, low-light photo does'nt do it justice.
The "Girl" panel (minus the right side of her face-which is across the room). She's almost ready for the final varnish-just a bit more drawing and collaging to do. Gary Amaro spent the whole day and evening here working his magic on the birds, with Lisa adding alittle assist at the end. (We may wait until the girl and background gets started in color before finishing up the birds here.)
The "Boy" panel (sorry again for poor quality fotos!)-I'll be beginning my glazing of color onto this panel somewhere around midnight-and hope to finish most of it by late tomorrow. And it's hard to see them clearly-but Gary's ravens are looking really great-hopefully I won't mess 'em up in the final stretch! Again-thanks a ton Gary-and it was really great talkin' shop and music with you. Hope you and Claire have a fabulous weekend up this-a-way.
And speaking of thanks-I've just been too busy to blog my incredible thanks to everyone who has contributed to this monster of a project-and I suppose it's a bit premature to be talking about the project as if it's done (still several long days and nights to go)-but the hard part really is done-and that was done by the over 60 artists and cutters and gluers and other helpers that are the soul of this project and piece. Especially Suzanna and Lori-and again, Gary. And I finally got some great, almost late drawings from Wendy Addison, Lauren Ari, & Michael Coy last week that just barely made the deadline, anyway-thank you for being part of this! Oh, and thanks so much to Jason D'Aquino for the scans-they were all so amazing! Thank you!
Of course, biggest, most loving thanks to my partner in all this, who really in pretty much all ways has been a part-a huge part-in the struggle of bringing this beast to fruition, thanks Lisa.
OK-back to it-the project and i leave in 4 days! And there's still 7 days of work to do.

Two Art Farmers

2006-08-17T22:06:00.000-07:00

...discussing the crop

Michael Coy, artist extraordinaire & one of our partners from Arches Gallery, makes some creative links on the piece. Michael is our latest Burning Man recruit (we think)-- he will go for the first time this year-- right?

With a little over a week to go...

2006-08-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

drawing in some more snakes (you can never have too many snakes...)

Don't worry Booder, I'll protect you. (at the top center you can see Thomas's "mer-deer"-click to enlarge.)

Saturday Night Drawing (etc) Party

2006-08-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

1) Gary Amaro really starts to breathe life into his ravens. (Gary, these are such a huge part of this-we only hope we can do them proud with whatever work we manage on them.)

2) Julian Farmer-Bowers & Marcel Patzwald check -out some resource books. These two came courtesy of our friend Mary Vaughn (check out her great paintings at www.maryvaughan.com) from the summer ArtStart program. (Mary was here this weekend too, and brought by photographer Barbara Elliott and artist Mario Uribe and his wife to see and contribute to the piece but I did'nt have the camera then).
These two, Julian and Marcel-along with fellow Art Starters, Adam & Chris, really gave us some great drawings. These guys have so much innate talent and I don't think one of them has hit twenty yet (oh wait, Chris is 21 but Marcel's still in High School)- Amazing. Thank you for being part of this!

3) Lori Almeida & Claire Cotts (& Thomas Yeats) draw. Thomas gave us another of the piece's highlights with his "mer-deer" and Lori and Claire also did some great drawings.

4) Suzanna (aka Bell) surveys the scene (and hey-it's Michael Coy there in the background! We're hoping he'll be in the foreground soon.)

5) Olivia winds down, near the end.

6) Adam, another of Mary Vaughan's ArtStart students, dropped by the next day and besides doing some great drawing, filled me with total envy over the rock concerts he's been to in the last year or two.

further developments...

2006-08-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

(reminder! Last official Art Farm drawing party today! 4:00 on. And there is still time (barely) to send us drawings. But ready or not, paint starts going on these walls by mid-week next week-so hurry!)

...to the game wheel...Phyxx cuts a mean wheel-his other two are finished and ready for Lisa's paint magic. Speaking of, Lisa is really getting some nice colors down-these pictures (and especially the ones I take) don't do the colors justice. Hey, what am I doin' on my butt with only a week to go?

2006-08-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

Thursday Night at the Art Farm

A wheel! A wheel!! Watch out, it'll make you queasy.
Bob & Lori dropped by to check in; Bell, our Master Glue-er surveys the scene; Phyxx built all three spinning wheels. Thanks!!!

Thanks and How About Some Pictures?

2006-08-10T05:21:00.000-07:00

Huge thanks to every one!-- you are all making something that should not be possible actually happen. This thing is going to stretch alot of people's heads in Black Rock City.
In the category of drawing contributions specifically-- Big, HUGE thanks this week to Erik Friedman (dude-- seriously-- you rock. I can't wait to see your and Emma's show in October), and speaking of-- thank you Emma for your amazing contribution-- so, when do you sleep?-- , thanks also very mucho Jennybird-- they're really great. You kicked such ass last year at the Fun-House!, Nancy Speir-- my evil twin...no wait, I'm the evil twin...,William Smith (very cool, -- I still kick myself for not buying that great bumble bee at Roshambo), oh right, how could I forget-- from Minnosota -- Neng Yang. Neng, Lisa and I were pretty floored when we got your package. They're all great-- thanks tons. Oh-- a belated big thanks and greetings to Judith Selby Lang-- (are you going out this year? --Lisa and I would love to meet you). Very nice drawings--and it looks like you do all sorts of other cool art-things. Lisa collects colored beach plastic too. And also belated thanks to Mike Terry --again, still. Mike, you gotta lotta 'splainin' to do.
Oh-- and I never thanked Ross Campbell, so I finally will. When you see his pieces-- they are just so good. Totally raises the bar. Anyway-- go buy his 2 new books-- "Wet Moon 2" and also, well I really loved "The Abandoned". It's pretty brutal-- but a good zombie comic should be, right?
But maybe the biggest thanks this week goes to Joe Leonard. Joe-- you literally saved the day. your drawings and designs are so huge to this project, anyway-- thanks again-- and can't wait for you to see the finished project.
(And Lisa and I can't wait to see it too.)
Well, here's where we are with about ten days to go....
The game board last night
the two portrait walls
a shot looking from the doors, almost from outside

Lisa guest blogs for me (thanks Lisa)

2006-08-09T21:55:00.000-07:00

Tony adds finishing touches to his circus-style letters; & the board takes a leap forward, with the painting of the snake's head & tail. Super last chance to pop yer drawings into the mail, or e-mail jpegs!

Art Farm Gathering

2006-08-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

(Hey everybody-Last week to submit drawings! Hurry on up if you got 'em -we still need almost 300! But again, huge thanks to all who've contributed so far)(as always, click to enlarge images)
So-the second-to-last Art Farm gathering for this project was yesterday-alot of the Art Farmers said they'll make the next and last one this coming Sat.-the 12th, so it was a small group yesterday-but a very fruitful affair. We also received some great images from some other great artists-so the game board is almost done, and the "Boy" is getting close. The "Girl" still has a ways to go-but there's definitely light (black light?) at the end of the tunnel. Pictured above, from left to right-Suzanna ("Bell") gluing, Lisa and Don cutting, while Michael ("Phyxx")-who is our "wheel man"-surveys the scene (he'll make the three spinning wheels-one on each wall, as well as figure out how to best engineer their mounting and spinning), and Erik-who drew up a storm yesterday and last night.Lisa and Bell and that's Rich Martin-"Rico"-who brought in a bunch of his vintage sketch books-(which he's copying on our new copyer). We're calling him "The Closer"-both because he did some nice finishing touches on the game board, but also he gave us lots and lots of little details from his sketch books that tend to be great for filling in those last little areas. (Muchas gracias Sr. Rico!)Lisa strikes a pose while blocking in the girl's game circles. the two portrait walls-before yesterday and after
the gameboard later that night (Lisa and I are still figuring out the letter colors)

Here's a few close-ups...

2006-08-03T02:39:00.000-07:00

(I'll provide some details about these details later)

Um, hey that's alot of drawings...

2006-08-02T03:45:00.000-07:00

Wow-people have been AMAZING! Drawings are coming in faster than I can glue them down (and almost as fast as I can type).I'm ...it's getting hard to focus there's so many drawings. But keep 'em coming if you've got 'em. New deadline is Aug 10th if you send 'em or the 12th if you drop on by (and speaking of, remember-drawing party this Sunday the 6th and then the following Sat the 12th. Both starting around 4 or 5 (you choose). Call or e-mail for directions or questions-824-1587 (707) or fallguy@sonic.net)
So, it's late-I'll write more tomorrow and mention some particularly amazing art and artists-but for now thanks to all who've sent or contributed drawings so far-it's taken some turns I could not have forseen-but that's part of the fun-and though there's still plenty of work (tons!) to do in the next 2 and a half weeks-It's definitely getting there. Here's some more quick pictures-view of the two portrait walls the girl's wall. Just getting started-hopefully by next week she'll have more drawings than... the boy's wall, which hopefully by next week will almost be done.

An Interesting Week

2006-07-30T02:15:00.000-07:00

I had to take a few days off from the Art Farm to drive up to the ever-beautiful north-Oregon coast to settle some of my dad's affairs-and meet with his good friends Peggy, Neil, and Mary Lou (thanks again for everything)-while Lisa still recovers from her neck surgery-and then a big dinner in Pleasanton with aunts and uncles and my mom and brothers. When I finally got back here-lots of packages containing lots of art!

the Game Board tonight-with some images just taped in place. Lisa and Bell workin' it. (-for more pictures of the progress of the piece, see Lisa's blog, "Studio View"
the "Boy" panel-so far. (Soon, the "Girl" panel...)

Hot Nights at the Art Farm

2006-07-24T02:19:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's 2:00 in the morning and it's still warm out. Makes it easy to work late into the evening...
Been getting some great responces from the Jack Rabbit post (thanks everyone-keep 'em coming!) but biggest props go out to Mike Terry-by far the week's greatest contributor. Mike-you probably need help-but before you get it-feel free to make 25 more drawings for the project. Also huge thanks to Gary Amaro and Thomas Yeats (both at the Comic-Con this weekend) for the drawings and design contributions. Here's a few fotos from earlier tonite-Lisa tightens the paintingand I paint in Thomas's snake head the game board wall so far
finally one of the other walls begins to take shape

Art Farm Drawing party!

2006-07-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a great one here at the Art Farm-almost 20 friends and artists came on over to add their "hopes & fears" to "This Game Of Hope or Fear". Thanks everyone for some really great art and fun times! I'm thinking we can maybe have two more such events-one on Sunday Aug 6th and then the last one on Sat Aug 12-both starting at 4:00. More info later...Paul and Tara add their magic...And Thomas Yeats adds his...including this portrait of "Swamp Thing"...after the party

Game Board Progress

2006-07-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

Here's some progress shots...
Here's a detail shot with some great vintage Chris Hataway drawings and two from the amazing tattoo artist Kevin Harden of Aurora, Illinois. (his website is www.ronintattoo.com -- Chris's is www.hataway.net)

Art Farm's 2006 Burning Man Piece Begins!

2006-07-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

Ok-finally getting seriously to work on the big project for this year's Burning Man.
here"s the plan for the central set of panels of the room sized project-called "The Game of Hope or Fear". It's a giant (8'x15') game board. After priming the panels and screwing them in place to the studio wall-I begin to transfer the design-using alittle improvisation..

Art Farm's 2006 Burning Man Project- Call to Artists

2006-03-20T14:57:00.000-08:00

click any image to enlarge

DEADLINE EXTENDED-AUG 10TH: DO YOU DRAW, SKETCH, CARTOON, or DOODLE creatures or things that could haunt or inspire? What are the images that come to mind when you imagine THE FUTURE? Is your sketchbook bursting with monsters from the id that you’d like to unleash on the world? You are invited to contribute drawings or copies of your drawings to a huge art installation to be seen first by tens of thousands of people at the Burningman festival, and later at other art events in northern California. The Art Farm Collective aim to create fantastic, strange and beautiful dreamscapes by collaging together hundreds of overlapping, intertwined images drawn by many dozens of different people. Last year's project, called HEADGAMES, is shown here: (click on each image to enlarge)
(This first picture was taken by our Easel Park camp-mate Don Jackson. Pictured are Lisa and Tony)

This years project, called the GAME OF HOPE or FEAR (formerly "This Game Of Life"), is much larger, so even more drawings are needed. Here is a mockup of their new project:

HOW TO PARTICIPATE? The Art Farm Folks are looking for images that can somehow tie into the theme of "Hope & Fear, the Future" but almost anything you can imagine might qualify. If you are have a sketchbook or computer chock full of dreams, demons, of premonitions of our future, they would love to have them faxed, emailed or sent to:

email jpeg images or questions to Tony at fallguy@sonic.net
mail copies (or originals if you can part with them) to: Art Farm Motel 211 Donald St. Graton, Calif. 95444
fax 510/559-9994
call for questions: 510/295-7529

Anything sent thru fax or email will be printed on plain white 8 1/2 x 11 paper and trimmed to the edge of the drawing. Signatures will not be included, but somewhere on the piece they'd like to put your name, city, state or country, and any web info if you'd like. The images that will work best for this type of work are black & white pen and ink, pencil or fixed charcoal drawings. Bold lines and images work, faint or pale images won't work. Color sketches will be taken down to a grey scale. Images from last year's piece might guide you, HEADGAMES DETAIL PHOTOS:
(here's a slight close-up; click this one and you'll really start to see what they're heading for)

(and a few really close-up shots of some of the different drawings, including some that were collaged in)

NOTES ON PAPER & SIZES for ORIGINAL DRAWINGS to be sent or dropped by the studio: Paper: should be white or slightly off-white and should be pretty light weight (so they can cut it out easily) but not too light weight since they don't want it to buckle when it's glued down (copier paper is great).

More details on the concept behind and construction of THE GAME OF HOPE or FEAR are given here by Tony:

Three walls, each about 8' tall, the center wall about 15' long and the two flanking walls about 12' long. The center wall is to be a giant gameboard, spelling out "Hope or Fear" within the outline of a giant serpent. Flanking this center gameboard wall will be two portraits-one of a young girl and the other a young boy-each representing "the future", as well as the "players" in the game. (The idea is to convey in their youthful faces the hope and dreams, and perhaps trepidation, of the future.) These portraits will be encroached from the outside of each wall by a group of dark and perhaps menacing birds-large birds-probably ravens. These will be to represent mystery and uncertainty, and perhaps fear. And floating over the portrait images will be several game wheels (the two smaller ones non-spinning) to represent the game-of-chance aspect to our young players' lives.
The game so far is fairly basic in concept--spin the wheel and advance (or go back) until the first player reaches the end. On each of the portrait walls is another large wheel that either says "hope" or "fear". Maybe these play some part in the game-? It's really more a "journey-is-the-destination kind of deal, y'know? Perhaps once installed participants will invent their own rules-which we are the types to encourage.

Now, if people have ideas concerning the main design elements-or aspects of the game itself-we definitely welcome them. Our main interest, though, will be the background drawings. We want to cover the background of all three walls (with the exception of the game wheel designs and the game path) with, well, we estimate we'll need well over 1,000 drawings-and even if the core group of half a dozen or so artists could manage it, we just know it's going to be so much better to get as many ideas and artists involved as we can.
Well alright-thanks for checking us out, and we hope to hear from you soon.

What is Art Farm?

2006-02-26T21:00:00.000-08:00

Art Farm is the brainchild of Tony Speirs and Lisa Beerntsen, and began in 2005 when we decided to collaborate on our first-ever art piece for Burning Man.
A friend and neighbor here in Graton, Tom "Flip" Flournoy, had the idea to bring some quality 2-D art to Burning Man, and along with his crew, built giant, 15 feet tall easels, to be arranged in a large circle out in the desert. And on each large easel would be 8'x12' paintings on plywood. He called his camp and idea "Easel Park", and when we got wind of it-Lisa and I excitedly got to work on what would become the first Art Farm piece--"Headgames".(there's also a spinning wheel that isn't attached yet in this foto)

The idea was to paint a simple, large painting (in this case a head in profile), over a dense layer of pencil and pen & ink drawings-using transparent acrylic paint. Because the theme at Burning Man that year was "Psyche", the very nature of the concept made it attractive to have all sorts of crazy drawings to form the backdrop, because we sort-of saw them as the "thoughts" inside the head. Quickly we figured out that we should have more than just our own drawings to form this back ground-so we started asking other artist friends if they wanted to join in-either directly, or if it was easier-by making good xeroxes of some of the pages out of their crazy sketchbooks. Our friend Chris Hataway jumped in next in a large way, and though some contributed just a few drawings, by the time we finished "Headgames" we had almost a dozen collaborators.
In addition to our regular paintings-we realized that we were hooked on making these collaborative drawing/painting hybrids, and thus, Art Farm was born.