Artists prepare for Festival of Fire this weekend
September 21, 2011 – 4:30 p.m.
Artist Steve Daigle With His Fire-Sculpture
This Saturday, September 24 Artcite presents Fahrenheit; its eighth annual festival of fire-sculpture art, alighting the pond park at Lasalle’s Vollmer Complex with a “big art burn” and a night of fire festivities. Ten specially-commissioned fire sculptures by artists from Windsor and Essex County, and across Ontario, will be set ablaze to create a spectacular array of changing images in the night air.
Fahrenheit evolved from Artcite’s annual pig-roast at the farm of Denis Bolohan, following his trip to Fecamp, France, where he learned the craft of fire art from renowned ephemeral sculptor Patricia Leguen. “It was such a hit with Artcite that they decided to get on board and try it again,” says Bolohan. Soon Artcite’s “Control Burn Collective” was formed, and sparked the continuation of a fire-art event in the area, inspiring local artists to work in the burning sculpture medium. “It’s big in Scandinavia. Sweden has been doing fire-sculpting for twenty years so it’s not a new art form,” says Bolohan, known as the “founding father” of fire sculpting in Essex County.
Many of the ten artists presenting work at this year’s Fahrenheit have created pieces for past events, with the exception of University of Windsor Professor Rod Strickland’s visual art class who will be marked and graded on the success of their sculptures.
Playing with fire offers no guarantee on results. “Part of the intrigue and the challenge is to create something that doesn’t go wrong, but sometimes they do,” says artist Ruth Janzen.
Bolohan continues, “Sometimes works far exceeded what the artist expected and there are others that only end up burning for ten seconds after great effort and expense.”
Ideally the sculptures burn for about ten to fifteen minutes, “It can be a beautiful structure, but not condusive to what fire does, if it’s too horizontal… it can turn into a big fireball,” explains Janzen.
Images of all kinds ignite as part of the Fahrenheit event. Artist Ed Janzen says, “My piece is an 18-foot long fish that will undergo a transformation. I don’t want to give too many details about exactly what it will do, I want to leave a little element of surprise for the audience.”
“I try to keep my pieces fairly simple in their appearance, I call them fire drawings,” says Janzen, “It will fall apart and reveal more, if things go well.”
Although a couple, the Janzens work individually on projects, but offer advice and help to each other. Ruth Janzen’s sculpture titled Your Goose Is Cooked is a Canada Goose in flight, “I thought it was appropriate because the site is on a pond and there’s often Canada Geese hanging around there”.
Steve Daigle worked in collaboration with Mike Marcon on the idea to do a flower that opens, and until now he “never had the time to put the effort into figuring out how to make that work. It’s probably the most complicated piece mechanically that I’ve made. I built it early so I could work out problems,” says Daigle. Adding some movement to the sculpture “is what really entertains people aside from the fact fire gets people fascinated.”
Many of the artists have incorporated the reflective qualities of the pond in their designs. “You’d be hard-pressed to find a more ideal venue,” says Daigle, boasting the Vollmer Complex’s pond park also features a natural amphitheatre. Fahrenheit remains the only burn-art festival in Canada, and one of the primary reasons why the art form has combusted so successfully in the Windsor area is because of Artcite’s and the Control Burn Collective’s relationship with the Town Of Lasalle.
Fire-Sculpture From Last Year's Fahrenheit
On private property, outside of the city limits, there are less problems. “There weren’t any logistics to deal with; no fire marshals shutting anything down, nobody driving by calling the fire department,” Bolohan says, reflecting on the early days hosting the private event at his farm. ”There are so many municipal hoops to jump through for even one piece.”
Daigle continues, “LaSalle has made it as easy as possible for us to do this event safely.” No accelerant will be used to ignite the sculptures, which are crafted of natural materials, mainly of wood wrapped in straw.
Gates for the event open on Saturday at 5:45 p.m. and the evening begins with CJAM’s DJ Velvet Vernon Smith spinning some tunes while the “kiddies” can participate in face painting. At 7:30, a strolling sideshow of daring fire feats by Detroit’s Bacchanal and Doppelgänger Circus Sideshow Troupes weave through the crowd as country music authenticator Lonesome Lefty and the Cryin’ Shames take the stage. The “big art burn” starts at 8:30 p.m. and is followed by more performances by the Circus Sideshow.
Tickets for Fahrenheit are only $5.00 for adults and $1.00 for kids under ten, and are available at in advance at Artcite (109 University West, near the Capitol Theatre) or at the door on Saturday night. The audience is encouraged to bring lawnchairs, blankets and bug spray; no coolers, glass bottles or alcohol is permitted on site. Parking is free, but limited; early arrival is suggested.
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