Community Tree Spire: Rainier Vista, Seattle

From the beginning of the tree building process, all of the Monkeys have been committed to the idea that ours was not a project destined for the dusty land of forgotten Burning Man art. We want these trees out in the world, taking root.

In time for Arbor Day 2008, we permanently installed one of the trees at Rainier Vista. We were able to do this through a grant from Black Rock Arts Foundation (BRAF) for the creation and placement of of a community driven art piece, support from Ignition NW, plus additional cash and in-kind donations by Seattle Housing Authority, individuals and local businesses.


Detail of seat back echoing images of the Whirligig story including the full text. Quality plasma cutting courtesy of 2K Metal Works.






Seat back detail. Etching and stainless steel courtesy of Acu-Line Corporation in Fremont.

Tree Spires: A Retrospective

For Burning Man 2007 we received an art grant for our project, Tree Spires, four 15' tall steel trees the trunks of which are encircled by octagonal wood and steel benches.
Installed in the Mangrove, the Tree Spires were located at the cardinal points and provided passersby a place to sit, rest and reflect.









The "bark" of the trees is made up of 4' long strips of 2 and 4-inch wide mild steel. Tabasco created a bark texture template that, when used with a really big power hammer on hot steel looks, well, very much like bark. But better. 'Cause, you know, it's steel. Okay, real bark is pretty cool, too.



















On the playa, we encouraged visitors to leave evidence of their time at the trees. We busted out our Sharpies™ and left some starter graffiti; the resulting "vandalism" ranged from touching to funny.

Shadows

Turn my head and this is what I got to see

Legs, and detail shots

Placing the scrolls

One brave soul prays they don't get welded while one with at least some skill tries to weld only the scrolls

Don't worry the welds will magically disappear

with pretty wraps

How to make scrolls, sorta

First we taper the ends then scroll them



Then we tumble them and spend hours detangling them

They are stacked and they get added to the cauldron.