Left Brain Right Brain

How to build something large, multi dimensional, with more than 20ft of cantilevered weight at the top of the sculpture is not an easy problem to solve. Christian and I brainstormed one evening while luxuriously soaking at Ojo Caliente, and we came up with a few ideas of how to really tackle this puzzle with the hard fact that it needs to come apart into many small pieces to fit within a standard 40ft shipping container for transport. 
And it needs to be free standing. And it will have loads of weight within, not only books and their shelves, but catwalks and hanging lighting. Tricky stuff.
Most likely the face components and the inside catwalks will be hanging off an engineered free standing 4 truss structure, which will bolt and unbolt into smaller components. 

I managed to sculpt the head that I imagined out of clay. Once I cut into the head to create the planes I wanted, I noticed that one side was slightly different from the other.  After looking at pictures of the clay model flipped, the difference was really obvious.


Different enough that I had to pick a side in order to make the planes work. I thought this was all together interesting as I was biased towards the left side of the face. My right brain, the one responsible for imagination, creativity and visualization is probably also responsible for my left side bias. After some photoshop magic, I made a face that is more or less symmetrical, and one that can now be used to figure out the planes.

How to transfer this onto a computer, well that is another story. Below is a start of trying to decipher the planes so that it still reads as the face I want. 

And that's where the project is at this very moment. Much more to come.

The Flybrary: working model

This is a picture of the working clay model, which is the first step for me to understand the shapes and all the planes of the head that I want. I am trying to sculpt the head to be a beautiful androgynous or gender neutral and ethnically un categorizable. The clay bust has been through many incarnations, but I feel it is close.

The Flybrary

The piece I will be building for Burning Man this year is called The Flybrary. 
In short:
The Flybrary is an extraordinary library within an enormous human head, partially cut open at the top allowing a flock of illuminated birds to emerge. Within the head are several levels of catwalks to climb, and nooks and crannies in which to sit and enjoy the selection of books. The eyes and mouth are portholes to the outside world. Up above, the open ceiling holds a large forged chandelier radiating soft light within.  It's a dreamy, transformative space providing an intimate and surreal refuge for contemplation, written wisdom and freedom of thought.
Here are the concept sketches for the piece. They are set on the Playa, as one does for Burning Man proposals.

and below is the night view- the birds will be brightly illuminated from within by color changing LED's. The head and neck are about 7 meters (24 feet), the birds add another 4.5 meters (15 feet). It's a BIG sculpture. 

I was honored to see that The Flybrary was chosen as the cover for the Burning Man honoraria announce list! 

And yes, I am very excited, and nervous.... and ready to take on the extensive task ahead. I will need help in various departments! Not only with fabrication, but also with finding and collecting the library of books. I imagine hundreds and hundreds of timely and relevant books. A dear old friend of mine added her insightful and inspiring dream around the books she saw within The Flybrary. Books relating to birds; One flew over the Cuckoos Nest,To Kill A Mockingbird, The Wind-up Bird Chronicles, Oryx and Crake, H is for Hawk,The Maltese Falcon, I know Why the Caged Bird Sings...and books describing flight; Wiley Post finding the jet stream, Beryl Markham's book about flying solo across the Atlantic, astral projections, Tibetan sky burials, hot air balloon engineering... (Thanks BQ) and imagine books on free thought, cautionary tales and revolutionary ideas.

I'm also entertaining the possibility of a human library- one where you can check out a person. Before your mind goes a-wandering... in a human library the person recounts one of their significant life stories to you. They could be an artist, an activist, a hacker, a mayhem creator, a political refugee, a lost boy, a gender bender, someone with a story that provokes awe, inspiration and wisdom. I would love that!

I will need some mad skills with the LED display for the birds. 
And with the 3D drafting drawings.
The list goes on, some of you know the score well. It takes a village to make these gigantic sculptures...
Do let me know if you want to contribute in any way with the build and realization of The Flybrary!
The next few weeks are dedicated to the completion of drafting drawings and the build plans for the structure. After that materials are ordered and the build begins! 
I will post the drawings soon~ until then, ciao!