Angel of The Apocalypse

My involvement in the Flaming Lotus Girls began when I moved to San Francisco in 2005. The first project I worked on with the group was called the Angel of the Apocalypse, a project that was being made for the Burning Man Festival of that year. It is an abstracted representation of a bird that is rising from the ground. It's body is made of driftwood that we collected from local beaches, its' head is made of heavy gauge mild steel that was hand-rolled and cut, and finally its' feathers are made of stainless steel sheet with intricate patterns cut out of them. These feathers house the propane and kerosene flames that give life to the creature. She is a symbol of death and rebirth.

I assisted one of the main fabricators and designers of the group, Rebecca Anders, with the head of the Angel. I was a complete novice in the metal arts when I first joined, but through my own interest and passion and the groups' nurturing and forthcoming nature, I was able to pick up on many skills that most women never have the opportunity to learn. In addition to this, I was able to experience being a leader in ways I had never anticipated. I was allowed to explore new ways of doing things, make mistakes and feel ok about making them. However, absolutely NO messing around with the Oxy-Acetylene torch!

On this project, I learned how to weld, cut steel with a plasma cutter and a torch, how to make a propane burner and drill lots of holes in steel pipe.