Corinbank 2009

With the Pedal-powered Bumper Cars up and running from last year, I was free to express myself more creatively at this year's Corinbank festival. The festival had acquired a burn permit and weather conditions looked like they would allow for some fire art.

I wanted to express aspects of Australian culture in my work. I acquired various pieces of metal that are important to Australians, such as a bowls mower, a lawnmower leaf catcher, a "barbie", a tea kettle, and various farm equipment. Only the Hills Hoist clothesline inspires more pride in the Australian heart than a barbie and a lawnmower. I added to this the legend of the infamous bushranger Ned Kelly and created NED 3000, a robot chopper outlaw burn barrel:





His head is surrounded by a barbed-wire crown of thorns.

Ned carries a removable zombie-killin' shotgun with underslung brain corer:



The second sculpture was "Evil Tick-tock," a portly wood-devouring robot comprised of cultivator blades, a barbeque, and a tea kettle:





His hand was beaten on the forge out of an old pitchfork. When you place a log in his hand and pull down on the lawnmower handle, his mouth opens and he dumps the log into his flaming, greedy jaw.

These pieces will appear at the in2CHANGE gallery show at the Belconnen Bus Interchange in the Australian Capital Territory April 20-May 8

Pedal-powered Crane

This pedal-powered crane was built for Redmoon's Summer 2006 spectacle Twilight Orchard. A simple rule for a crane is that the weight on the end times the ratio of the boom to the counterweight's length equals the weight of the counterweight. The original design called for an 800 lb. counterweight which would support 50 lbs at the end of a 16 foot boom. Consequently this vehicle was extremely overbuilt, with ATV wheels, a differential, and a gear ratio that would allow a single person to move that kind of weight.


I had to fabricate my own axle stub brackets.


The vehicle was dressed by other designers and audio techs, and Laura Annis built the boom. The crane was equipped with a speaker on the end for a private party and then used to hang a disco ball for Twilight Orchard- in typical Redmoon style this allows the techs to be seen by the audience and perform their job with whimsical gadgetry. Here's a picture of it loading a mouse into a giant mouse wheel during Looptopia 2007:


This project represents a particular combination of form and function that I always strive for and am quite proud of in this creation.

Popular Mechanics Online

Popular Mechanics Magazine did a feature on their website about five bike builders who used non-bike equipment in their rides. That magazine has always been about doing it yourself, and they even include (reluctantly) instructions for making your own. I don't like to hoard techniques, I would prefer if people went and used my methods and improved upon them.

Check out the article here.

American Dream Burn Barrel series

Before the Burning Man 2008 bicycle project began, I worked in the metal shop. These are some of the burn barrels I produced to go with the event's "American Dream" theme.

The Rocket


Something has gone horribly awry during this launch. Flames are spewing from the cockpit and the hatch. Behind the astronaut is a scoop that surrounds him in flame. The belly of the rocket (shown above) features a tribute to one of america's fallen heroes.








"Abraham Pimpin'" $1 bill



This barrel depicts a $1 bill with Abraham lincoln as a pimp. The seals on the bill say "worship me" and "R.I.P. The American Dollar 1945-2008".









You can see others, including 'Dale Woulda stopped 9-11' and 'Pizza, Tacos, and Chinese: Now That's American Food!' at my my Flickr photostream.

Egophobia

Egophobia is a hip Romanian magazine for the surprising countercultural scene there. Because the Soviets modernized Romania when they took over, Romanians feel that the old ways are the truest to their history and culture and so steampunk is very popular.

The author translated my interview into Romanian, and then back to English for the English-language version of the article. Consequently my words may be put together strangely. Check out the article here.

MULE magazine

Mule Magazine Issue 5

I was featured in issue five of MULE magazine alongside fellow Chicagoan Jason Bitner of FOUND Magazine.

Select page 12.

Burning Man 2008

This year the bike crew at Burning Man faced a new challenge: Assemble and paint 400 bikes, repair the existing fleet of 600, and distribute them all in addition to dealing with the abandonment of another 1100 bicycles in the Black Rock Desert. I worked in the metal shop before the event and managed the fleet repair and cleanup crews.

We think the continued presence of community bikes accounts for the 400-bike drop in abandonments this year. Approximately a container's worth of bikes were dontated to the Reno Kiwanis Club, with another container set aside for my Ghana project. Fundraising continues for that shipment- we've got what we need to drop a container but not the shipping fee.