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.