Caught in the early morning sun, Coyote raises his head and howls. Note the guy sitting beneath his chin. Much of the art at Burning Man is designed to be climbed on. Large helium balloons stretch off to the right.
I talked to a coyote once. I was hiking on the American River Parkway in Sacramento when I saw one disappear into the brush. I froze. A couple of minutes later he came back out and looked at me. I remained still and he continued to stare. Suddenly he raised his head up and gave a Coyote greeting, “Yip, yip, yee.” Translated loosely, it meant, “Why are you behaving so weirdly?” I raised my head and responded, “Yip, yip, yee.”
I don’t know exactly what I said but he sat down and howled again. I sat down and did likewise. Thus our conversation began. It went on for about fifteen minutes before we ran out of things to say, got up and headed off on in different directions. The experience had been close to magical.
I suspect my behavior would have been different had the coyote been 25 feet tall and weighed seven tons. Fortunately, Bryan Tedrick’s coyote sculpture at Burning Man this year was made of steel and not likely to eat anyone. (Burners were welcome to rest in his belly, however. That is they were until too many fell off.)
Below are photos of Coyote and several other works of art at Burning Man 2013 I considered among my favorites.
Another early morning view of Coyote. (Photo by Tom Lovering.)
Coyote with people in his stomach shown along with the Man. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)
I really liked this UFO called Cargo Youth Spacecraft, which was created by Dana Albany working with youth groups in the Bay Area. It was created with 50% recycled materials.
Tom Lovering took a fun photo of the Cargo Youth Spacecraft with the Man’s flying saucer. (Photo by Tom Lovering.)
Big words created by Laura Kimpton and Jeff Schomberg have become an annual treat at Burning Man. Past words have included Mom, Ego, Love and Oink. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)
Tom caught one of his early morning shots of BELIEVE. (Photo by Tom Lovering.)
BELIEVE at night.
I found what looked like neurons slipping across the Playa. This was the Drifts Sculpture by Michael Christian.
A close up of Drift.
Here we have Penny the Goose made out of 100,000 Canadian pennies in honor of the last year the Canadian penny will be in circulation.
Penny takes off.
This set of hands created by David Gertler was located just in front of the Center Camp Cafe.
I liked the simple lines of this lotus-like sculpture. The Truth is Beauty sculpture can be seen in the distance.
This unique structure was part of Zonotopia created by artist Rob Bell for Burning Man 2013. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)
One of Tom’s favorite sculptures was You Are the Key. (Photo by Tom Lovering.)
Peggy, a crafty kind of woman, liked this crochet house. (Photo by Peggy Mekemson.)
A close up.
The Flaming Lotus Girls have been producing quality art at Burning Man for many years. This year’s theme was named Xylophage and included the large burned out stump, this gnome and several humongous mushrooms. Everything, of course, flames at night.
One of the mushrooms in the Flaming Lotus Girls’ sculpture.
This set of stacked cubes seemed to reach high into the sky.
“Come over here and catch them from this angle,” Tom urged.
This is only a very small sample of the art found at Burning Man. Later I will visit the regional art but next I want to take you out to what is always one of Burning Man’s top attractions: The Temple. It is truly a sacred area.
Wandering through Time and Place 