= The Potlatch Longhouse =

The Potlatch Longhouse is a dream I've had for a couple years - to add something unique and new to the Burning Man experience.

The First Nations people of the North West Pacific Coast from Seattle through British Columbia and into Southern Alaska traditionally lived in longhouses often integrating the totem poles globally exclusive to this region.

The traditional potlatch ceremony is something like a birthday party except the generous host provides gifts to everyone attending.

By combining these two classic concepts - the potlatch and the longhouse - and adding modern elements and building materials this fusion of old and new will result in a beautifully designed structure worthy of being the 2007 Burning Man Temple.

I aim to recruit traditional Aboriginal artists from the North West to design most of the decorative elements and invite them to attend Burning Man again or for their first time.

The building will be designed to be simple, modular, inexpensive and as environmentally friendly as possible while being visually overwhelming.

Every burn community in every city will be invited to help make some of the modular panels (4x8x1 feet) and other elements and with many hands the light work will bring together the international burn community in this goal.

This is all mighty ambitious but I'm mighty inspired and mighty lucky to have so many funderful friends.   My biggest challenges are funding and maintaining forward momentum regardless of financial situation or geographic location.

Please keep this project in the back of your mind and share it with everyone you feel should know about it.   I'm already hearing a massive enthusiastic willingness to participate in making this dream happen confirming that it really is a beautiful dream.

This is my gift to everyone and everyone's gift to me.

Peace out,
~ jSunshine *


P.S.   Please patiently bear with me while I post more elaborate and detailed plans here over the next few months. The dream and vision has grown as have the scope and scale along with the intricate details and clarity of purpose.

For a good source of cultural explanation and inspiration I've compiled a brief separate web page of historical reference containing summarized information and images edited from Ottawa's Canadian Museum Of Civilization to share a better understanding of relevant technical, spiritual and fundamental principals of the North West Pacific Coast First Nation house.

Top: Haida - Masset Village - Monster House - 1873

Bottom: Tlingit - Klukwan Village - interior of Whale House

More details will be posted as they develop, including:

Introduction (this page)

Historical Reference web page

Structure Design
- fundamental skeletal architecture
- modular wall panels
- totem poles
- lighting
- electrical plan
- interior risers
- fire bowl
- fire cannon(s)
- burn platform

Modular Panels
- participant introduction
- the graphic designs
- how to build a sectional panel
- sectional blueprints
- individual sectional stencil templates
- global participants
- about the Aboriginal artists

Safety
- indoor and outside fire precautions
- emergency exits
- guardians
- environmental considerations

Structural Logistics
- funding, resources, and purchasing
- shipping of large structural elements (not modular panels)
- equipment requirements and solutions
- volunteer crew
- burn preparation crew
- official approvals (BM org, safety, BLM, etc.)

Signage & Plaquades
- activities schedule
- individual contributors credits
- Aboriginal and artist's statement
- structural, artistic, historic, environmental, and political explainations

Activities Schedule
- Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun, Burn

Internet Co-ordination
- wiki
- forum
- web master(s)
- human resources to track participants and who's doing what
- transparent budget and funding plans
- other (Tribe, email announce list, discussion list, etc.)

More Ideas (below)

Top: Traditional longhouses at the
University Of British Columbia's Museum Of Athropology.

Bottom: Performers in the Grand Hall at the
Museum Of Civilization in Ottawa.

= Raven Steals The Sunshine =

Above is my design for the front of my Gigsville collector's card to give away at Burning Man in 2001. This should help make it obvious that I am extremely enthusiastic about the art and culture of the Northwest pacific coast First Nations.

Planning to begin preproduction to animate traditional NorthWest Coast Stories I began corresponding with the University Of British Columbia's Museum Of Anthropology in the spring of 2004. That summer Raven Tales contacted me because they were developing a series with many of the same goals. After visiting their production studio in Calgary and carfully considering their invitation to executive produce and direct on their animated series I've decided to cease development and shelve my animation project for now as they are doing an impressive job on their version.


More Concepts For Future Years
• a beaver bus art car (above right)
• a giant canoe art car
• many totem poles
• totem poles with wind generators on top
• many more long houses (a village?)

= The Beaver Bus =

Click on the 'Beaver Bus' to see at full resolution.

I imagine the driver of this 'Beaver Bus' would sit with a co-navigating passenger in the cockpit head of the beaver. The bowl shape scooped out of the back with benches would seat passengers, and ideally the arms, legs, log and back would be able to withstand the weight of stradling passengers. The flat tail (a low covered trailer) would also carry passengers and the occasional cargo.

The teeth, eyes, and possibly the hat would illuminate from within while the body would be ornamented with brown fun fur and EL wire. The short snout of the beaver will be an animatronic beaver munching machine controled from the beaver head.

The nine rings on the beaver's chief's hat represent nine potlatches, or in my case nine years I've been attending Burning Man. A person can climb inside the hat to perch on a seat revealing their head and shoulders.