Sculpture and Ritual - The Money Dance #1

Friends are getting married. Together for years, they have all the stuff they need,
and asked for money to finace a honeymoon in Hawaii.

David asked, "How do you give money?"
I said, "If you are Chinese, you put it in a beautiful red envelope.
If your are not Chinese, you do a money dance."

He looked at me (again) as if I make everything up and said, "MONEY DANCE?"

"Look it up. You'll find examples on the internet. 
It's a lot more fun than leaving a boring pile of white envelopes on a gift table."

And so began this sculpture project.

Sculpture and Ritual

For the second time in 32 years, the fire department crashed the New Year's sculpture burn.
It's hard to hide a 10 foot fire ball when the Missionary Baptists are having a midnight celebration, right across the street.

  Susan Gallacher Turner writes about the burn HERE.

Photographs by Michael Turner.

We worked and laughed all day, busy building the ridiculous nest. It kept getting larger and larger.
The egg is a Japanese paper shade, lovely and white.

There is a large fountain firework inside the lantern. I had one chance to light it.  As soon as it began, the entire structure would ignite quickly. Exactly as intended. Big spectacle, short duration.

 The egg has officially hatched. Welcome 2013.

The whole thing didn't last ten minutes, and had burned down to an almost respectable "back yard campfire" as the fire marshal called it. She told me what was legal and gave us a pass. Thank god...

Anything you MUST do in 2013? Begin it! 

Remember it's always better to beg forgiveness than ask permission.