Makers on the Playa

As the annual week-long arts and culture festival Burning Man draws to a close, it seems fitting to do a mini tribute to makers on the playa. Unlike the majority of other festivals, the very nature of Burning Man encourages the maker in all attendees. For those who don’t know (anyone?), the participants and organizers of Burning Man essentially erect an entire city called Black Rock City, complete with neighborhoods and even a post office, on the dry lake bed in Nevada. And other than art cars, there are no vehicles allowed on the playa, so from shade structures to dolled up and tricked out bikes to costumes and giant art installation, the handmade maker spirit is all around.

To give you an idea of how that happens, here’s a time-lapse video by Matt Goodman of the 2011 Burning Man from empty playa to Black Rock City:

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Burning Man community is strong, and we’ve been fortunate to be able to showcase some of the large-scale art made for Burning Man at our annual Maker Faire Bay Area (the original, and our “home game” of Maker Faires, which we’ve been putting on for the past eight years). Most of these amazing pieces of art would’ve never been made had it not been for the inspiration that Burning Man provides.

Here’s a look at just a handful of iconic pieces from Burning Man that have been shown at Maker Faire. Pictured above is Jon Sarriugarte and Kyrsten Mate’s Serpent Twins (an Empire of Dirt production), which appears on the cover of MAKE Volume 35.

The playa provides a gorgeous canvas that large-scale art looks amazing in:

Here are 15 more installations from the playa that have been to Maker Faire:

Christian Ristow’s Face Forward .

Christina Sporrong’s Caged Pulse Jets. Photo by Matthew Wanlin.

Acme Muffineering’s Cupcake Cars. Photo by William Keller.

Epiphany by Karen Cusolito. Photo by Larry Jones.

Soma by the Flaming Lotus Girls. Photo by Rubin Starset.

Aurora by Charles Gadeken.

Mark Perez’ Life Size Mousetrap.

Obtanium Works’ Neverwas Haul. Photo by Samuel Coniglio.

Raygun Gothic Rocketship by Five Ton Crane.

Russell the Electric Giraffe by Lindsay Lawlor.

Spread Eagle by Bryan Tedrick. Photo by Ryan Swift.

The Zomes of Rob Bell.

Chester the Mutant Vehicle by Jason Anderholm and Rebecca Anders. Photo by Scott London.

Fata Morgana by Orion Fredericks. Photograph by Mike Woolson/Burning Man

Satan’s Calliope by Lucy Hoskings.

Were you at Burning Man this year? Tell us what your favorite installations were in the comments!