Posts
Thank You Mountain High Fire & Safety!
We wish to thank Mountain High Fire & Safety for their continued support of the Telluride Fire Festival. We are so grateful for their sponsorship as we head into our 3rd annual event. We could not do it without you!
Justin Gray Fiery Robots: coming to Telluride Fire Festival
Justin Gray built his first RC car at age seven and picked up his first welding torch at age sixteen. An apprenticeship with renowned sculptor Martin Metal shaped Justin’s esthetics in patina and metal sculpture.
Justin soon co-founded fire sculpture group Therm. This underground group built wild and complex fire sculpture and presented it internationally, pushing the envelope of audacious art and performance. Legendary large-scale machine performance group Survival Research Labs soon captured Justin’s interest, and he joined this group of like-minded techno-destructionists in 2006.
Justin’s obsession with radio control also thrived, leading him to protype and build his first electric vehicle in 2000. Justin continued building custom electric vehicles for future-thinking clients looking to gain a foothold in the burgeoning electric vehicle industry, and continues this work today.
It was only a matter of time before Justin’s passions converged and his resulting fleet of electric drive radio controlled fire sculpture robots are uniquely powerful, savage, and beautiful.
Justin’s robots share his shop with Graywrx Fabrication, a fully tooled machining and fabrication shop, where his broad range of abilities and limitless imagination enable Justin to engineer solutions to even the unlikeliest challenges posed by his exacting clientele.
Specialties
Electric vehicle design and fabrication, prototyping, metal fabrication, robotic systems design and build, special effects (fire and robots), precision machining including mill and lathe work, hydraulic systems design and repair.
Albuquerque artist, Shane Shane’s biodiversity sphere at 2017 Fire Fest
Albuquerque artist Shane Shane created a biodiversity sphere out of a 500-gallon propane tank from the 1950s. Each detail is more intricate than the next. And Albuquerque artist Shane Shane wanted it that way. Out of a 500-gallon propane tank from the 1950s, Shane was able to create a world.
It’s one of wonder and it’s one with a message.
“The ecosystem is important to every creature,” explains Shane. “Each part is represented in this piece.”
Shane’s “Biodiversity Sphere – Endless Prospect of Life & Wonder” took nearly three months of work. Each piece of the project was hand cut by Shane and Shaun Myers.
There are dolphins, elephants, rhinos as well as an owl, a wolf and many sea creatures included in the piece. Inside the hollow sphere, Shane has set up a propane tank, which lights up the entire sculpture at night.
Shane is making his first trip to Telluride this January 20 to participate in the 3rd annual Festival both his Biodiversity Fire Sphere and a new creation called Obelisk.
Image by Albuquerque Journal photographer, Jim Thompson.
Breaking News Update: Fire Ball Fundraiser
The Festival culminates in this spectacular fundraising Fire Ball and Barn Burning: a unique setting atop the gondola at Station St Sophia in the 30-foot high vaulted ceilinged venue. This location is ideal for both in-town and Mountain Village guests. This fete, where audience will become artist, offers a truly unique experience, combining exhibition with performance, and commemorating all forms of artistry.
The fabulous LoveTribe along with DJ Phoenix, The Strangefellow, will provide high energy music to dance by. Theatrical performers Stacy Everson, Kim Bucki and Bryan Pope with mesmerize all. Attendees will choose between intimate lounge areas, dance spaces, have unlimited beverages, and appetizers.
The Shack To-Hell-U-RIde
The Fire Festival art car was created to resemble a turn-of-the-century miner’s shack. The actual shack, created with 100-year old wood sits on a cut down 1989 Ford Transporter Van. The shack literally appears to “float” along the road as the tires are completely hidden from view by rusted corrugated steel.
The interior boasts a turn-of-the century ice box, real wood burning stove and chandelier. As all shacks in Telluride had sleeping quarters, this shack does as well.
The most exquisite piece of this Mutant Vehicle is the illusion that the shack is on fire. Something you simply must see for yourself…this summer at Burning Man or January 15, 16 or 17, 2016 at the Telluride Fire Festival.
Make a tax deductible donation of $1,000 or more and you can have this fiery spectacle at your next house party or event in the Town of Telluride. Email erin@telluridefirefestival.org for more details.