Flaming Lotus Girls

Flaming Lotus Girls is a volunteer-based group of artists who make large-scale kinetic fire art. FLG has been described as a "women-focused anarchist art collective."[1] The group began in 2000, in San Francisco, California, as a group of six women and two men who wanted to gain the fabrication skills and design experience needed to create large sculptural installations.[2] The group includes over a hundred members of all genders, and a majority of the members are women.[3] Many of the sculptures have interactive elements, allowing the audience to control the lighting, flames, sound, or other effects.[4] The collective's work has appeared throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands.[5]

"Soma" sculpture adapted to use LED lights instead of fire, installed in San Francisco as public art, 2015

Art

Serenity (2019)

Serenity was chosen as a 2019 Black Rock City Honoraria project in February, 2019.[6] It features a group of three giant, and many smaller fireflies escaping the pieces of a large broken jar. Serenity will primarily be sculpted in steel - and will feature interactive flame and LED effects at night. It is currently being constructed in San Francisco, California, and is expected to debut at Burning Man in August, 2019.[7]

Noetica (2017)

Noetica is a set of two sculptures constructed from 144 stainless steel squares carved with intricate patterns. The larger of the two sculptures is hydraulically powered - and may be controlled by manually manipulating the smaller sculpture. Noetica was displayed in Black Rock City, NV in 2017.[8]

Pulse (2016)

Pulse is an anatomically-correct heart that beats fire through its four chambers, emulating the blood flow through the human heart.[9] The outer steel structure mimics the intricate vasculature and predominant veins and arteries. Above the heart chambers, the aortic arch shoots pulses of fire into the night sky.[10] The sculpture was displayed at the SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco in 2016 as part of an event promoting a Flaming Lotus Girls photo calendar.[9]

Xylophage (2013)

Xylophage is a giant sculptural fungi featuring sound, light and fire, sprouting from the remains of an enormous tree.[1] Xylophage appeared at Burning Man in 2013.[4]

Tympani Lambada (2011)
Tympani Lambada at Burning Man

Tympani Lambada is a sculptural representation of the inner ear, with interactive controls for its flames and LED lights.[11] The sculpture is approximately 80 by 40 feet and weighs 20,000-25,000 pounds.[12] The planning and construction of the sculpture involved building large trusses out of pipes that carry propane, linked with 140 joints.[12]

Soma (2009)
Soma at the Electric Daisy Carnival

Soma is a stainless steel neuron that illustrates flowing electricity through crowd-controlled LED light patterns that shoot along its dendrites and axon. Soma appeared at Electric Daisy Carnival in 2013.[13] In 2014 it was installed at Pier 14 along the Embarcadero on the San Francisco waterfront for one year, adapted to light up with LED lights instead of the original balls of fire.[14] In 2016 it moved to Vallejo, California as a public art installation for two years, as part of an effort to draw visitors to the city's downtown and waterfront areas.[15]

Mutopia (2008)
Mutopia methanol shooters, Friday night, Burning Man 2008

Mutopia is a spiraling sculpture of "seedpods," laid out according to the Golden Ratio, a proportion found throughout art and nature. This sculpture was also displayed at Maker Faire Bay Area in 2011.[16]

The Serpent Mother (2006)
The Serpent Mother

The Serpent Mother is a 168-foot-long (51 m) sculpture of a skeletal serpent coiled around her egg. Serpent Mother has appeared at Electric Daisy Carnival and Coachella in 2012 and Burning Man.[17] In 2018 Serpent Mother was featured at the White Night Festival in Melbourne, Australia.[18]

The Angel of the Apocalypse (2005)
The Angel of the Apocalypse at Burning Man 2005

This sculpture, originally built of steel, driftwood and fire systems, rises from the earth in the form of an abstracted bird. The Angel's wings burn continuously with ambient flame, and each feather features audience-controlled "poofer" fire effects.

Its head, formed from curved steel plate and featuring hand-blown glass eyes, stands 20 feet (6.1 m) tall and functions as a wood-burning fireplace. Participants are invited to move around and between the Angel's feathers, and to climb and sit atop its driftwood torso.

During its debut appearance at Burning Man, the driftwood torso was burnt as part of the performance. A new steel one was designed and constructed in the winter of 2009–2010, to bring to Toronto's Winter Festival.

The Seven Sisters (2004)
Electra of the Seven Sisters, morning after the Burn, Burning Man 2004

A collection of seven sculptures approximately 15 feet (4.6 m) in height, representing the stars of the Pleiades constellation. The Seven Sisters include Alcyone, Celano, Maia, Taygeta, Asterope, Merope, and Electra.

A Merope rebuild was completed in March 2012, and features CNC plasma-cut stainless steel sides.

The Hand of God (2003)

A 12-foot (3.7 m) copper sculpture of a woman's hand that shoots flame from all five fingers.

Fire Fan (2002)

Huge plumes of liquid fire controlled by MIDI.

Fire Island (2002)

Interactive flaming flowers, cacti, arbors and more.

Flaming Flower Garden (2001)

A garden of fire, including copper flowers, a lily pond, and a weeping willow.

Flaming Lotus Sr. (2000)

A sculptural flame thrower. Created for the 2000 Burning Man Festival.[2]

Film

The Flaming Lotus Girls were featured in Dust & Illusions,[19] a documentary about the history of Burning Man. Pouneh Mortazavi, Rebecca Anders, Rosa Anna DeFilippis, Caroline Miller, Charlie Gadeken and James Stauffer were the Flaming Lotus Girls members interviewed for the film. The footage features the Serpent Mother.

References
  1. Chun, Kimberly (16 August 2013). "Approach of Burning Man sparks an outbreak of art". SFGate. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  2. Mohammadi, Goli (11 May 2010). "Maker Faire: Flaming Lotus Girls Soma". Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  3. "About FLG". Flaming Lotus Girls. Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  4. Halloran, Lori (2013-09-06). "Burning Man Art Beyond the Playa". KQED. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  5. Long, Margaret (2018-03-14). "No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man". Flaming Lotus Girls. Archived from the original on 21 August 2018. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  6. "Introducing the 2019 Black Rock City Honoraria". Burning Man Journal. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  7. "Serenity". Flaming Lotus Girls. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  8. "Noetica". flaminglotusgirls-serenity.com/. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  9. Kukura, Joe (2016-11-30). "Flaming Lotus Girls Fire Up 2017-18 Calendar". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  10. "Pulse". flaminglotusgirls-serenity.com. Flaming Lotus Girls. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  11. Lynch, E.D.W. (2011-06-21). "Tympani Lambada, New Epic Scale Fire Art by Flaming Lotus Girls". Laughing Squid. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  12. Abrams, Michael (October 2011). "The Intersection of Art and Engineering". The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  13. Carter, Geoff (19 June 2013). "A Carnival of Sights - Vegas Seven". Vegas Seven. Archived from the original on 15 August 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  14. Whiting, Sam (2014-07-21). "Burning Man Sculpture Opens on Waterfront". SFGate. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  15. Glidden, John (2016-10-07). "SOMA sculpture arrives in Vallejo". Times-Herald. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  16. Stern, Becky (2011-09-05). "Three Mutopia Pods: Flaming Lotus Girls (video)". Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  17. Baltin, Steve (18 May 2012). "Electric Daisy Carnival Amps Up Its Art". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  18. Francis, Hannah (2017-12-14). "White Night ... White Month? Melbourne could see its all-night art party extended". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2018-03-09.
  19. Olivier, Bonin (March 2009). "Dust & Illusions. Documentary on 30 Years of Burning Man history". The 90 minutes long documentary features the Flaming Lotus in a 15 minutes segment.
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