Wow... what an amazing burn! For those of you who weren't there, there are already many incredible videos and photos posted on Youtube, etc. I was able to chat with quite a few artists about their work -- its creation and destruction, and will begin posting excerpts from the interviews this week. But I'd like to share one story with you now, which for me captures the meaning of transformation.
Suki (aka Karen Christians) is an artist from Massachusetts. She creates jewelry and works with precious metals -- an art which she began AFTER being horribly burned. Without going into details, I'll just say that years ago, she was caught on fire. One can imagine that after such a horrifying and painful accident, that she was not only physically but also emotionally scarred. But somehow, in her healing -- perhaps the key step in her healing -- she began to work with fire... to make art. She took the very element that scarred her and used it to make something beautiful... and in the process, her own trauma was transformed. Amazing!
As a goldsmith and jewelry maker, she has done a lot of cool things (including founding a school!). This year at Burning Man, she made two wooden "diamonds." So, transformation #1: wood to art. Each of those diamonds were then burned (one with the Man; the other with the temple). Transformation #2: wood to ash. But, some of that ash (mixed with the ash of the Man, the temple, and everything else that was in consumed in the fire) was collected and will be purified and compressed into 5 diamonds! (Transformation #3). Those diamonds will eventually be set into rings (transformation #4!).
Now, the story of the gold for the rings is great too...
Before the burn, Suki reached out to many many artists, jewelers, and goldsmiths and asked for the tiniest of scraps of gold... so in came the donations: many tiny scraps, which ultimately will be used to make the rings for the diamonds.
But wait! There's more! Those 5 diamond rings -- each designed/made by a different artist -- will be donated to one of five nonprofit/charitable organizations -- where they will be auctioned/raffled/etc. The money that's raised by those rings (transformation #5) will then fund many different projects, helping countless people (transformation #6 and beyond!).
My conversation with Suki really made me think about the power of change. Left as wooden sculptures, her diamonds would have been nice -- but they became ALIVE through the transformation from one form to the next. I have a feeling that that's applicable in a lot of other settings...
Suki (aka Karen Christians) is an artist from Massachusetts. She creates jewelry and works with precious metals -- an art which she began AFTER being horribly burned. Without going into details, I'll just say that years ago, she was caught on fire. One can imagine that after such a horrifying and painful accident, that she was not only physically but also emotionally scarred. But somehow, in her healing -- perhaps the key step in her healing -- she began to work with fire... to make art. She took the very element that scarred her and used it to make something beautiful... and in the process, her own trauma was transformed. Amazing!
As a goldsmith and jewelry maker, she has done a lot of cool things (including founding a school!). This year at Burning Man, she made two wooden "diamonds." So, transformation #1: wood to art. Each of those diamonds were then burned (one with the Man; the other with the temple). Transformation #2: wood to ash. But, some of that ash (mixed with the ash of the Man, the temple, and everything else that was in consumed in the fire) was collected and will be purified and compressed into 5 diamonds! (Transformation #3). Those diamonds will eventually be set into rings (transformation #4!).
Now, the story of the gold for the rings is great too...
Before the burn, Suki reached out to many many artists, jewelers, and goldsmiths and asked for the tiniest of scraps of gold... so in came the donations: many tiny scraps, which ultimately will be used to make the rings for the diamonds.
But wait! There's more! Those 5 diamond rings -- each designed/made by a different artist -- will be donated to one of five nonprofit/charitable organizations -- where they will be auctioned/raffled/etc. The money that's raised by those rings (transformation #5) will then fund many different projects, helping countless people (transformation #6 and beyond!).
My conversation with Suki really made me think about the power of change. Left as wooden sculptures, her diamonds would have been nice -- but they became ALIVE through the transformation from one form to the next. I have a feeling that that's applicable in a lot of other settings...
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