Fire Sculptors:
Philip Bews and
Diane Gorvin
Production Period:
September 2007
This was a Form 8 International Project, a community celebration held in Stockholm, Wisconsin on the bank of the Mississippi River on Lake Pepin.
The Art+Fire project included a wooden sculpture and a display of handmade paper lanterns. The wood sculpture was burned in a celebration at the conclusion of the construction process, in a day-long celebration which included lantern displays, live music by Combo Flambe and fire dancing by Illumination Fire Troupe.
Diane and Phil built a 45 foot long wooden Viking "fireship"
sculpture using recycled and clean waste materials and created an
installation of large paper lanterns in the shape of fish, many
inspired by the native fish species of the Mississippi River.
There was a fair buzz about Stockholm and Pepin - with lots of people visiting the fire site. A lantern workshop and talk were well-attended and Diane gave a talk in a Pepin school.
The lanterns were built at the studio of Andrea Myklebust and Stanton Sears and at two community workshops at the Lake Pepin Art & Design Center in Pepin, with around 20 fish lanterns being made. These were suspended under the trees in the park that leads to the Lake Pepin.
Community members were encouraged to observe the construction of the fire sculpture artwork in the village park, and to participate by creating their own lanterns for the event.
Art+Fire Project artists:
Phil Bews and Diane Gorvin,
Andrea Myklebust and Stanton Sears (www.myklebust-sears.com),
Jen Macklem and Kip Jones (www.macklemjones.com),
who travelled from Canada to help out, along with
Mary Hark from Madison and David Wyrick.
Architect John Myklebust created the lovely lighting design.
Photograph by Andrea Myklebust
John's lighting of the ship seen here, when the Viking ship was still a work in progress.
The sculpture was burned in a celebratory fire at dusk on the evening of Saturday, September 22 2007. More than 1,000 people enjoyed live music, handmade lanterns, performances by fire dancers, a procession of fire-shapes along the shore and the burning of the sculpture itself.
The event was the culmination of months of planning and preparation, including;
community lantern-making workshops, artist talks, an exhibit of Gorvin and Bews'
past fire projects and two weeks' of intense building at the site on the banks of
the Mississippi River on Lake Pepin.