Tiny Art & Grants

Balsa Man’s made better by our community of tiny artists. Last year many people donated their creative efforts making Balsa Man a richer experience.

Last year’s burn was graced with a Diminutive DDI (seen here), a wonderful balsa pheonix, a miniture flame cannon, adorable pink budda sculptures, and of course the Temple of Reduced Expectations. I have heard rumors from several artists of grand tiny art for this years Balsa Man burn and I hope that many others will take part.

Big Dreams Writ Small

The theme for this year’s Blasa Man is “Big Dreams Writ Small.” We know most if not all of you have succumbed to the pleasure and pain of inspiration. We all dream of doing big art. The inspiring art that everyone treks across the playa to see, but not everyone gets the chance to build. Whatever is holding you back from your creative dreams, whether it’s lack of time, volunteers, motivation or funds, now is the time to realize your dream in miniature.

Tiny Art Guidelines

There are no registration requirements for artists; however, we do ask that artists abide by the following rules:

Please notify us that you are planning on bringing art by emailing us at art@balsaman.org.
Art should be tiny and at least approximately to scale: ie., no overshadowing the Balsa Man with your 8 foot sculpture of a praying mantis. Scale is 1/16th; the Balsa Man himself is 2.5 foot from his foot to the top of his head. However, there is no need for your art to be exact. An RC car is a great scale for a miniture art car and a normal action figure is perfect for a scale version of a raver or jaded artist.
Even your burn should be to scale. Artwork burns should be fairly short in duration and small and contained—no large bonfire burns. The artist who created the work is responsible for ignition, fire safety, and cleanup.
We ask that all artists be set up by 6pm—don’t be late as the event is as short as it is tiny (Sunset is at 7:33pm and Baker Beach closes an hour after sunset).
Most importantly Leave No Trace! This is especially true for artists who are burning their work. Remember to bring a flashlight as it will be dark while we are cleaning up.

Tiny Art Grants

The Black Pebble Arts Foundation is pleased to announce that they will be handing out grants for this year’s Balsa Man. We entreat all our tiny artists to send us grant requests. Due to the generousity of our donors, we have an art budget just waiting to fund tiny art. And remember our grants may be as tiny as your art but every little bit counts!

Art grant proposals will be judged on their individual merits irrespective of the theme. While we are interested in art that works with this year’s theme, it is not a requirement to receive a grant, nor will artists receive a grant just because it fits the theme.
Artists with multiple projects should submit a grant request for each art project.
Grants are available in $1, $2, $5, $10, and $20 increments—please indicate the amount you are seeking in your request. More involved projects with higher grant requests may be proposed; however, it is uncertain at this time whether any artist will receive a higher amount.
Grant requests should include a brief 100-200 word description and/or sketch of your art project.
We request all grant requests to be sent via postcard (email art@balsaman.org for snailmail address). Email grant requests are also accepted; however, postcards are given preferential treatment.
Grant Requests will be reviewed and awarded as they are received.
Deadline for receiving all grants is 5:55pm, September 5th 2009, or whenever our art budget runs dry—so get your request in soon! Art budget will fluxuate as we receive donations and hand out grants.
All approved grants will be posted in our Balsa Blog category: Art Grants. The BPAF has decided to post every grant awarded in respect to the principles of honesty and transparency, our gracious donors, and the Balsa Man community.

List of Approved Tiny Art Grants

The following tiny art projects have been awarded tiny grants by the BPAF Tiny Grant Review Committee:

Tiny Art & Grants

Big Dreams Writ Small

Tiny Art Guidelines

Tiny Art Grants

List of Approved Tiny Art Grants

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Black Pebble Arts Foundation

Photos from Balsa Man 2009