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What are the Family Jewels?
The Family Jewels is a large-scale sculptural installation inspired by 70’s-style string art that will debut at Burning Man 2015. Glowing with beacon-like brilliance against the night sky, the installation will stand in steady contrast to the piercing, pulsing Playa horizon.
Unlike their monochromatic string-art predecessors, our plugged-in, amped-up, color-saturated gems will pack a visceral punch with glowing facets and miles of brightly colored strands. They will be a polychromatic vision during the day and emerge as glowing angles of colored, dancing light at night.
The centerpiece is the Crown Jewel, a 12’ tall, four-sided faceted structure composed of triangular wooden “fins” resting on a geometric setting. The walls are coated with phosphorescent paint and glow brightly when exposed to UV or very bright light. UV-reactive glowing tubing wraps around and through the sculpture criss-crossing to create a radiating woven web of lacy geometric dimensional patterns. Edges are defined by LED lights that animate, illuminate, colorize and interact with visitors. Lay down face up on our specialized cart that is part Flintstones, part mechanic’s creeper for a fantastic full-color fluorescent view inside the Jewel.
Flanking the Crown Jewel are two 15-foot tall “solitaires” — simple steel frames wrapped with over a mile of day-glow twine that creates an airy web of luminous color in the day and glows brilliantly at night. The solitaires will be lit by black light floods.
Angular shaped seating allows visitors to sit and stare or lean and gaze as they interact and enjoy the jewels.
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Designs and Prototypes
The Jewels have evolved dramatically over the last eight months. Much discussion, exploration, testing of ideas, and many dead ends have brought us to the current designs. While building has begun, we will continue to test materials, and modify and adapt designs to ensure these jewels sparkle as brightly and safely as possible.
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How expensive are these Jewels?
We have the motivation, the tools, and the skilled volunteers to execute our vision. Now we need to purchase the materials—the wood, steel, and LED lighting, the colorful webbing, UV reactive paint, and materials for the cart-and-track system that will whisk adventurous viewers inside the Crown Jewel.
Your generous donations will help us acquire what we need to make these gems a reality. It will also offset some of the cost of transporting and powering the installation. Every dollar that gets donated goes to add a little more sparkle to the Jewels. It’s all about the 5C’s - Color, Cut, Clarity, Carats, and CASH!
If we reach:
$7000 - we will enhance the LED lights and add more interactivity
$8000 - will result in brighter lights, and additional smaller jewels
$9000 - we will use glow-in-the-dark laminate instead of paint for the Crown Jewel with more clarity and better color.
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Who are the Jewelers?
We have a dedicated and experienced all-volunteer team with a wide variety of skills. Among us are artists, builders, designers, dreamers, engineers, flaggers, multi-year burners, horticulturalists, techies, robot makers, and more. We are motivated and creative people who like to make beautiful things, to turn dreams into reality, and we choose to spend our weekends together creating something fantastic and unique for the world’s enjoyment.
Todd Cooper, Lead Artist
Graphic Designer, Creative Director, Artist. Mayor’s Award, Autumn Lights Festival 2014, featured work at “Glow”at Exploratorium.
5th yr Ranger, 2nd yr ARTery, Founding Shepherd, BAAAHS Artcar. 6th Burn.
Randy James, Construction Lead
Welding/Construction. Boy Scout Den Leader/Scout Master. 15 yr Haunted House creator. 2nd Burn.
Matt Fisher, Project Manager
Clear Thinker. American Steel Studios Artist, curator, organizer. Project Manager. 4th yr ARTery. Founding Shepherd, BAAAHS artcar. Camp Leader. 6th Burn.
Tom Steele, Electrical/Safety Lead
PhD, Particle Physics. Works w lasers. 2 art cars. Founding Shepherd, BAAAHS Artcar. VICE Camp Co-lead. 2nd yr ARTery. 14th Burn.
James Bobowski, Technical Lead
Software engineer, Indiegogo. Jan '15: Cognitive Technology, Exploratorium. Burning Man '13: Mens Amplio. Skilled with LEDs, sensors, controllers, electronics. m0xy art incubator in Oakland. 3rd Burn.
Michele Laskowski, Volunteer Coordinator
Horticulturalist, Hobbyist, Flagging in the Park Organizer, fanner, Multi-year Burner.
Melesio Nunez, Construction
Fabricator Extraordinaire, Builder, Photographer, Artist. Founding Shepherd, BAAAHS Artcar. Founder, Happy Shower Camp, 10-year Burner.
Zack Shivers, Technical Advisor
Electrical engineer, avid maker, creator of robots. 3 yrs with theme camp, 4th burn.
Jay Egger, Construction Advisor/Hula Hooper
Contractor, Builder, Creative Thinker. Likes to lend a hand. Old-School Burner.
More than Bling-Bling for Burning Man
Although the Family Jewels will provide an eye-catching colorful oasis and respite at Burning Man, they will sparkle off-Playa as well. They will appear at Pink Saturday’s AfterGlow, the Autumn Lights Festival at the Botanical Gardens in Oakland, and possibly in the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park later this year. We are hopeful that these Family Jewels will get around and will flash at as many people as possible, bringing joy to all.
Risks and Challenges
Gems as fine as these are formed under intense pressure, and our Jewelers are up to the challenge. While much work lies ahead, we feel we are well positioned to make this project sparkle. Since this is our first installation at Burning Man, we have kept our scope in check so that the results are fabulous. (Think dazzling solitaire versus diamond-encrusted four-finger ring.) Our group has the expertise needed, and since we are based at American Steel Studios in West Oakland, we have resources nearby should we need any outside assistance.
Ways You Can Help
Financial support is a Jeweler’s best friend, but If you can't fund this project, there are other ways to contribute:
A Note from Todd Cooper (Team Lead) aka Ranger Mucho
This will be my 6th trip to the playa. I go to Burning Man because it’s the best week I have enjoyed as an adult, and the experience has been a huge catalyst for growth and change in my life. It motivated my partner and I to leave a great life in NYC and venture to a coast where there seemed to be a wellspring of folks that were like-minded soul-searchers looking for something different, better, exciting, and something with a deeper connection and meaning.
Time on the playa is a chance to recharge, break down perceptions, lighten a load, connect deeper, and to build dreams and share them with some amazing people.
Each trip to the Playa is an experience that affects me deeply and changes me, often a small shift, sometimes a huge change…but always in a better direction. As the mother of my burning man godmother once told me, “...for every time in life when I went out of my boundaries and beyond my abilities into the unknown, I told myself that it was forward movement and that the direction was a right one.” Three and a half years into life on the West Coast, Miss Vicki’s words still ring true.
The Family Jewels is built by an ever-growing group of remarkable and generous folks. We hope our gift will catch your attention and charm, engage, and inspire you to head in a new direction.
Thank you for supporting us and supporting our efforts...Forward movement, indeed!
