The Transience of Burning Man And The Sustenance Of Creative Bedrock

Has it really been almost a year since I've posted here??? Yes, it has!

As I check in here, and take note of my last post, I realize how much my long time participation in Burning Man has turned this time of year -- the mid-end of August -- into a "New Years" time for me. It is a time to assess, to steer, to ponder new goals and directions. This year it is especially apropos for myself and Lumieria. It is the first year that I have had a ticket in hand, then consciously sold it. What would have been my/Lumieria's 19th trip to the playa in 20 years, will be something else instead! But I haven't opted out, I have opted in.

In fact I have doubled down.

There is now so much happening here at Lumieria, that I am choosing to be here for it, not there, for the first time... a surprising development!

This post was originally going to be about the new/fun stuff coming soon, but it feels incomplete and ungrounded without a look back first... How did this serendipitous turning point come to pass?

I have few regrets about my initial years as a light sculptor. "Create and destroy" was my mantra, a cycle and philosophy that I was introduced to by Burning Man, and excitedly embraced. Those years produced pieces, and more importantly the adventures of creation that preceded them, that I am so proud to have instigated and seen through. The Gambler Hammock, Blade, Suspension, Three Knows and Suntrees are all works that were born of those cycles. They allowed me to give others a small bit of what my own experience of art had given me -- a glimpse of the profound -- to contemplate and reflect on, to wonder at, to be affected and challenged by.

Several years ago, I realized that for me, this perpetual cycle of "Somethingness -> Nothingness" was hard to move beyond, to build anything greater on top of. There is a limit to the amount of energy I have to devote to these endeavors, and I was hitting it yearly. In addition to my works, my very artistic foundations were also being reduced to dust and ash, once a year, causing me to have to repeat their rebirth too; requiring me to nurture them first, before I could get to making art again. In more tangible terms, by pursuing things on a yearly cycle ending in nothing, I was rebuilding my lists of suppliers, my techniques, my art-space, relationships, etc, from the ground up for each new piece, rather than being able to stretch out farther than before, cementing and leveraging my earlier gains.


"Whoops!" I burned it.


As this realization grew, my path shifted. In the face of massive personal upheaval in 2008, I made a conscious, strategic decision; to pull back from my "Build it and burn it" temporary/transient approach to creation. I wanted something that could live and breathe year-round, and -wouldn't- end up just a pile of ash at the end of a months-long push to realize something beautiful. This was a pivotal moment, I feel; the moment that Lumieria's roots found their way through the layers of dust, and into bedrock.

The years of digging roots into the strength of bedrock aren't always as flashy as the pretty flowers that pop out of it. In my case, I've produced fewer light sculptures these years, but greater staying power. The storms I have weathered since 2008, and yet come back from, are testament to it. I want to give those early, sparkly flowers of my light sculpture work, bigger and longer lasting bushes, and giant ageless trees to live alongside.

I have only one lasting regret about my beginnings as a light sculptor. It is something that didn't seem to matter then, but matters a lot now, as I try to build on those layers of early achievement to something greater. I did not do a good job of documenting those early projects. I can only share those works through a handful of photographs, which I thank my lucky stars that someone, often not me, was kind enough to pass on to me.

Part of the beauty of Burning Man in my eyes -- that I wish to all participants -- is that their experience of that fantastic art and environment is for the NOW. It is for you, those bold adventurers who've done the work to get there. Be there, now! But, what about the Later?

Soon I'll introduce to you to some of the seedlings pushing their way out of the ground here in my "Later." These are the dear seedlings of some of my future trees.

What about you?

What IS your later? Have you thought about it? What do you want it to look like, to feel like? Where is that bedrock that will anchor you, as you expand through the transience of now, into the timelessness of your greater later?

I wish you happy digging, and the future sparkling forests that going deep will bring!

Until soon...

Dave