We are excited to announce our 2023 art grant awardees. These incredible artists will be showcasing their work at our 2023 annual gathering.
Brenden Darby & Simón Malvaez – NOSOTRES
NOSOTRES is a monument to the ancient history of the queer community. Standing at 50’ tall with depictions of nonbinary faces and Mictlan (The Aztec Underworld) this evolution of our 2022 Burning Man Piece, THEM, Serves as a reminder that queer people have been here since the beginning of time. Queerness represents our past, present and future and we honor the many deaths of our past selves that help us move forward.
Portions of this project in development will be showcased at our annual gathering!
Rebekah Waites – Relevé Ladies aka Twisty Twirlies
Relevé Ladies aka Twisty Twirlies are dust devil inspired “dancing” sculptures made from twisted steel and twisted tree branches. Originally created as facade test pieces for my installation Relevé that took place at the Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, UK the summer of 2022. The surface of each Twisty Twirlie is decorated with intricate Celtic inspired patterns made from cotton rope, jute, steel, and LED lights. Once completed, these sculptures will create and immersive illuminated labyrinth.
Portions of this project in development will be showcased at our annual gathering!
Bearpad – Mushroom Heads & Cozy Space
MUSHROOM HEAD
Expanding into inflatables, BEARPAD presents MUSHROOM HEAD: a three-piece psychedelic whimsical large-scale installation with reactive visuals. Give them a hug, or chill out beneath their shade.
COZYSPACE
An interactive chillout space with multi-channel ambient audio and playable visual projections. Reflect on your physical body and its relation to your level of mental stimulation to tune an experience that feels good for you.
Garen Lavender – A Dress For The City
This dress combines a process image from a commissioned artwork and a tripartite version of a Reiki symbol called “Male-Female.” The finished commission will live in Hattie House. The Male-Female symbol is meant to balance gendered energy (whatever that means for a particular person) and can be found in the book Magick of Reiki by Christopher Penczak. The symbol also lives on the back of my neck and is the first in a series of chakra tattoos meant to support my transition as a nonbinary person. Their print-on-demand brand is garenlavender23 and they are happy to share 23 dresses with individual Something Queer retreat attendees on a first-come, first-served basis.
John Marble – Hearth & Heart
A wood and LED light sculpture that takes the abstract form of a bonfire. The light of the sculpture is meant to serve as a beacon for the intent of the weekend and the form provides a “campfire” for attendees to gather around which respects the nature of the space and the ‘no fires’ policies meant to protect it.
Tom Seago – Sparklehenge
Sparklehenge is a re:imagining for a queer 2023 of the (currently) more well known classic henge made from stone. It contains vastly more LEDs than the original and is roughly infinitely times easier to move around being constructed from a series of aluminum frames. The frames themselves bear a similarity to the steel gates constructed by Christo and Jeanne-Claude in Central Park in 2005, but with LEDs instead of fabric, movable, and somewhat smaller. Like the stone version in England, the piece itself may be used as a setting for various religious rituals at the participants discretion, although no instructions for doing so are included. Above all else, everyone is encouraged to walk and move amongst the frames of Sparklehenge, to experience the space it defines, and to ponder the meaning of its patterns as they feel fit. The project couldn’t exist without the generosity of many people including being based on components from the BAAAHS Sparklemotion project and generous financial support from a prominent technology executive