Alienated and isolated yet still bound to majesty of the city, we seek warmth and connection by creating smaller communities in its midst—we forge the village in the heart of the metropolis.

This year’s Balsa Man will focus on the tiny community that makes Balsa Man more than a sum of it’s tiny parts. This means more tiny art build parties and more Balsa Regionals!

For more on the theme and how you can participate to make this year’s Balsa Man the best ever please visit our revamped Balsa Man 2010 home page.

Balsa Man 2010 patches and stickers are coming soon stay tuned for announcements!

Balsa Man (photo by shorelinesue)

I’m sure you all know by now what an amazing success Balsa Man was. The Balsa Man himself may have arrived a tad late—due to amalgam of minor impediments so typical of art projects large and small—but once he arrived the small crowd of early arrivals cheered and the preparations began in earnest.

Ian, head of DTW, set up the Esplanade and directed others to install the tiny trash fence, Port-o-potties were installed, and Bryan generously jumped in last minute to help with artist placement. And boy was he needed as by this point, tiny artists were streaming in by the dozens: Puny Pants camp set themselves up next to the Balsa Center Cafe with Polar on the other side selling ice cubes for 15 2/3¢ a piece. The 1/16th Indian Taco stand set up shop over by the gate and the sound camps began to arrive. And in the center of this chaos, the Balsa Man KCrew got to work raising the Balsa Man.

When the Balsa Man was in position and lanterns on the base were light, the Balsa Man event was officially open. Tiny artists were still arriving, but now the crush of magnificently dressed participants began to arrive along the path set by the Burma Shave signs.

Deep-False Illumi-Opulent Cowboys (photo by mikest)

With hundreds of participants, the event was radiating with a spectacular energy. The place was teeming with creativity; everywhere you looked was a another small artistic gem waiting to be discovered. In fact, even though we started the event an hour earlier than last year, it was still nearly impossible to see all the art on display. We counted over fifty sculptures, a half dozen tiny art cars, and numerous other artists doing whatever it is that they do: just to pick one example, Josh & Naomi’s cell tower was sanctioned by the UN.

Pom Petite (photo by kitsunecaligari)

As the sun set and darkness settled on the beach, fires popped up sporadically across la playa as artists torched their work. Paul Addis burnt early as did Domokun. Soon the time came for the Balsa Man himself to be lit. Søren, the Lead Balsa Ranger and his crew set to work clearing the perimeter so that tiny artists could light their art and the Balsa Man KCrew could install the pyrotechnics as the tiny poi dancers entertained the crowd.

Of course not everything could be perfect, there was a little trouble raising the arms but once raised it was time for the main attraction.

With little ceremony, the Balsa Man was ignited and quickly turned to burning embers—and boy do I mean quick.

Seriously, you need to watch the burn in slow motion to really catch it in all it’s flammable glory.

After the man was finished, everyone headed to the back of la playa near the trash fence to see their minor imperfect woes and pet peeves burn away into nothing. Then feeling a slight weight removed from their shoulders, the participants, with smiles on their faces, slowly dispersed into the foggy night…

I too couldn’t help but smile. What an amazing year! Thank you all for making it the best Balsa Man yet!

The Chief Tiny Officer of Balsa Man will be appearing tonight from 6:45-7:15 on Pirate Cat Radio on Jeremy Pollock’s show, The League of Pissed of Voters. Listen in to 87.9fm!

Note you can also listen to it broadcast online.

UPDATE:
The segment with me is available for download:
Balsa Man on Pirate Cat Radio.

We here at Balsa Man Headquarters (BMHQ) have been previously pondering about the potential problem for pantsless partyers and pontificating on proposing protocols to prohibit this practice. Luckily, Puny Pants Posse, aka The Society of Pants for the Wee, have come to the rescue. Here is their latest statement and grant request:

Pants Are Necessary Things - Seriously!

We, the Citizens who think Pants Are Necessary Things, Seriously! (PANTS) are concerned that tiny-person nudity is an epidemic sweeping the nation, causing wanton licentiousness, suggestive hoopla, blindness, and a corruption of the morals of our most precious asset, the children! Some little people have been known to lie around for days, weeks, nay sometimes months completely naked! I shudder to think what sort of lascivious thoughts might come unbidden to the unformed and malleable mind of a child who unwittingly happens upon such an obscene display! With just a tiny $2.69 donation for a tiny cause, you can ensure that such a scene will never mar the dignity and minuscule majesty that is Balsa Man! PANTS will fight tiny-person pantslessness with several specially-developed tools, including our PANTS Trebuchet and our PANTS Cannon, designed to render the pantsless incapable of exposing their hairless, bland crotches to the unguarded eyes of innocents. We will provide pants to any tiny-person without them, and will “convince” those who might be obstinate with the use of our arsenal.

In the name of decency,

Signed, The Puny Pants Posse, aka The Society of Pants for the Wee, aka What Part of Pants Don’t You Understand!

At first, the BPAF art grant review committee was hesitant to award monetary funds to “theme camps,” lest these “theme camps” become popular and get out of hand. However, we can all agree that pants are a necessary thing, and the word alone makes one giggle. Puny Pants Posse: APPROVED. pantspantspants!

YOU CAN PANTS IF YOU WANT TO – YOU CAN LEAVE YOUR PANTS BEHIND

And if you do happen to leave your pants behind, the Puny Pants Posse would also like to invite you to “The Party In Our Pants” which will take place at Balsa Man, from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Pantsocolodas will be served – BYO tiny reusable cup! Come admire the wall of tiny pants (pantitos?) and fire a pair of slacks from the pants trebuchet!

Are you an artist working in miniature for a Balsa Man project?

Are you somebody attending either of the l’il get togethers this Labor Day weekend, at the Mothership in San Francisco or up at the Regional Balsa Burn up in the Black Rock Desert?

Do you have a digital camera and a penchant to want to show off your snaps? If so, then please consider joining the Balsa Man Flickr group!

For inspiration, please consider what our lovely, talented friends did with last year’s Flickr group.

Temple Construction

For example… there are recent additions up documenting the Temple Build. It’s almost like being there!

My Friend Flocka

Also, there is the wonderous, whimsical, widdle (okay, that’s a stretch for an alliteration) version of Flock! You may remember seeing a large version of this project in the San Francisco Civic Center or possibly you saw it at an art festival somewhere. Well now you get to see it in miniature!

If you have pictures from this or last years’ Balsa Man builds or events please contact Colin on Flickr. Tiny art makes big memories, so be sure to share yours!

After one solid weekend of work and another late weeknight, the Balsa Man has been built! There are a number of improvements to the man this year. Most noticeably, the ribs and the circles on the arms and legs which are much more regular and smooth thanks the new scroll saw which was a recent addition to the Balsa Man workshop. Also new this year in the workshop are the saw horses which were built by SFSlim. There are also several little touches that we were able to accomplish due to the increased size of the Balsa Man KCrew.

And lastly there is the beautiful heart that was created by SparkleBottom and signed by every member of the Balsa Man KCrew.

We photo documented the build and have a Flickr Balsa Build 2009 photo set.

I’ve also created a new Balsa Man 2009 group pool which I invite all Balsa Man artists to contribute their build photos to. This pool can also be used to for pictures taken during the event itself.