Lightning in a Bottle 2014 is Here!

 

Lightning in Bottle 2014 is here! And we’re letting you know about what to expect, do and see where beauty, art and matters of the heart abound.

Its that time of year! Festival season is here! Kicked off in April with Coachella, we now move into full festival-ing with this coming weekend’s much anticipated Lightening in a Bottle 2014,  happening May 22-26 in its new location in Bradly, CA.

Every year the D LaB creates what is  hailed as the most interesting and fun-filled stage at Coachella (see our review and insights here) and later breaks down everything they’ve built in order to re-imagine, redo and repurpose it all for their own, more intimate and green-minded Lightning in a Bottle.

While Coachella sees in the upwards of 100,00 people in attendance, LIB hosts between approximately 15,000 festival enthusiasts. And while LIB is the much smaller festival, its cultural and artistic impact is huge.

We’ve been told that LIB’s newest location, smack in the middle between between Los Angeles and San Francisco, is beautiful, with rolling green knolls and grassy fields.  This year promises to be even more environmentally conscious than past years.

For its main stage, The Lightening Stage, LIB has  Moby, who we have been covering with his art shows, the most recent being at PROJECT Gallery for Innocents that included a parade, Little Dragon and Beats Antique.

Even with such big and exciting names, we can still look forward to a down-home, hands-on event filled with experts sharing their knowledge, artists sharing their work and encouragement, given to everyone to participate in any way possible. Even Moby will be giving an informal talk about music therapy. Yes, please!

Here is Cartwheel Art’s inside scoop on what else is happening this weekend, and what we want to see and experience:

Composer and Sound Designer Bob Hoehn will bring his amazing sound art to LIB this weekend. Hoehn’s Raven Wind Harp is sure to enthrall. This large structure is made of piano wire, canvas, birch and copper. When the piece is blown by the wind, its swaying movement releases a haunting and otherworldly chorus of sound.

One installation we’re particularly excited about is The Lightening Patch by artists Jacob Milam and Pinak Parekh. Here, 6 to 8 foot tall geometrically designed light pieces change color, pulsing and strobing as viewers walk between. A super interactive experience.

The art team called Steel Love Design will be installing their structure Whirld. Whirld was created originally for Burning Man last year. It is a kinetic steel structure, composed of sacred geometric patterns. At night it glows from within.

Other artists included for installations at Lightning in a Bottle in their “Showcase” this year are Elizabeth Yochum with Angelbird for Participlay; Bamboo DNA with their bamboo structures; black light artist Debi Cable’s Buddhas’ Garden; KNature’s KNest (a new earth sacred temple) who have plans to beautify the village and create an interactive oasis; Abram Santa Cruz lead artist from LA Work; Vibrata Chromodoris: The Articulumand; and Vita Motus Design Studio.

One of the most atmospheric and fun parts of LIB is Lightening in a Paintcan. Close to fifty live painters that we follow on the Cartwheel Art Magazine are listed to be working throughout the festival drawing on the ambiance and mood around them to create unique, captured-in-the-moment works to be auctioned off Sunday night, raising funds for public art programs such as the one we recently partnered with in Haiti for the Let There be Light Project with Shrine that are facilitated though the Do Art Foundation.

The list of artists for this years Lightning in a Paintcan along with links to their work can be found here that includes some of our favorites such as Aly Kourouma, Angelina Christina, Codak, DevNGosha, Griffin One, Hans Haveron, Hans Walor, John Park, Lindsay Carron, Mear One, Max Neutra, Sand One, Van Saro and Vyal.  Check out last year’s coverage here.

Los Angeles based artist John Park, will be at Lightning in a Paintcan again this year. We at Cartwheel Art have enjoyed watching his work develop, and today his technique, thematic choices and the complexity of his pieces are at their height. (See our coverage from his show last year at C.A.V.E. last year) I spoke with him a little about his expectations for this year’s LIB:

I’m really looking forward to painting again this year. It seems like every year is an amazing opportunity for me to try out a new style or technique. Normally that sort of thing is fraught with uncertainty but the atmosphere at LIB is so inspiring that I always find the freedom and motivation to try something new and this year will be no different!

I also spoke with seasoned LIP artist Van Saro his is his third year participating In Lightning in a Paintcan, and I asked him what he was looking forward to:

I guess I’ll find out when I get there how this year is different. This time I’m journeying into the unknown. I drew my inspiration from [personal] experiences.

Van Saro’s next solo show won’t be till 2016 at La Luz de Jesus Gallery, so LIP is a great space for him to work and explore while he is catching up on paintings for collectors.

Honestly I don’t know what I’m looking for [this year at LIP]. I’m going with no predetermined expectations. I just want to experience something beautiful that will be unique.

Last year we covered Artist Shrine-On’s Temple stage and Artisan Village extensively. He brought all of his imagination, wit and his special ability to engage with an audience’s feelings and curiosity to create a place of magic.

This year, he promises to once again offer a spectacle of beauty.

Shrine will install one of the many Empire of Love shacks with artist Joel Dean Stockdill, and creating a special stage built specifically for singer-songwriter and multi-media artist Morgan Sorne who will perform here during the weekend. I spoke with Shrine recently about his anticipation of the coming weekend:

I am very excited that Morgan Sorne is performing in our space as this is the first step in allowing a dream to come forth of a special traveling theatrical show that will be created in the future with Sorne. I’m also excited to be included in a cutting edge production celebrating Art, Music,Dance, Performance, and Information created by people I love and respect, my friends.

In the Artisan Village this year we look forward to attending workshops to create gourd crafts with Anna Fratoullo, wood crafts with Timo Granzotti, leather crafts with Olaf Gelein and Cordage, and dreamcatchers with Shira Weaver, among many others.

We are so excited to that Robert Moondragon–who is one of Cartwheel Art founder Cindy Schwarzstein’s favorite artists–will be at LIB again this year again. She discovered him at LIB several years ago with Scott O’Keefe  and loved their mandala work with with a trail of organic materials, assemblage, found objects and deities, and began collecting their work.

During the afternoons, many speakers  will light up the Temple of Consciousness area.

On Saturday the Founders of Gratitude Cafe Terces and Matther Englehart will be speaking about the power of love, while on Sunday YouTube founder Chad Hurley will be giving a talk about following your dreams and creating your own reality.

I am particularly excited to hear Julian Birnbaum talk about permaculture, the philosophy of working with, rather then against nature. Co-author of the book, Sustainable Revolution, Birnbaum’s lifestyle and cause is both fascinating and universally relevant. With the repurposing of their materials, and their ever-evolving environmental consideration and commitment, expect the DoLab’s message of permaculture to be a big part of the weekend ahead.

Sound therapy, gongs, and music of the spiritual are everywhere at LIB!  Los Angeles curator Michelle Berc is scheduled to perform a Sonic Being crystal bowl sound bath. Michelle is the long time producer of Create:Fixate, the downtown Los Angeles art show promoting burgeoning local artists.  Cartwheel Art has media has partnered with Created:Fixate for the past year with their events and most recently provided a Cartwheel Art Sunset Tour  to in the Downtown Los Angles Arts District as a tie-in to  last weekend’s  “Serendipity” event. Michelle has been studying sound therapy for years. I cannot wait to participate!

In the early morning hours, you can enjoy the Silent Frisco where participants get to wear headphones to enjoy “carefully curated” DJ sets. Definitely a priority!

Movement classes and other experiences abound this year: You can hoop dance, ecstatic dance, African dance and Middle Eastern mystical dance. Yoga of all varieties are offered–the exploration of possibilities are endless.

With the amount of things available to do, I would recommend making a list of “must dos” and “must sees” but leaving your schedule open to be lured, mystified and taken away by whatever sparks your interest.

Allowing LIB to unfold as it will, will most assuredly teach, entertain and inspire. The experiences available- the art structures, the live painting, the music, the yoga, movement and craft classes- will undoubtedly ready us for the upcoming sumer and year. LIB can truly be a retreat for the soul and inspiration for the heart.

What experiences do you look forward to shaping your world?

 

Moby at PROJECT Gallery with his closing of the Innocents art show for a parade. Photo: Lauren Over

Bob Hoehn’s Raven Wood Harp  that when blown by the wind  releases a haunting and otherworldly chorus of sound. Photo: Bob Hoehn

Lightning Patch. Photo: Lightning in a Patch.

Close up image of Lightning Patch. Photo: Lightning in a Patch.

Do LaB area at Coachella with, the work of (left to right) Sand One and Hans Walor and Christina Angelina. Photo: Lauren Over

John Park painting live at LIB last year with Lightning in a Paintcan. Photo : Julio Moreno

Van Saro who will be a Lightning in a Paintcan artist for the third year in a row shown here in 2012. Photo : Cindy Schwarzstein.

Part of Shrine’s Empire of Love installation at Coachella this year. Photo : Lauren Over

Part of the Temple of Consciousness installation by Shrine last year. Photo: Julio Moreno

From Lightning in a Bottle last year. Photo : Julio Moreno

Robert Moondragon at Lightning in a Bootle in 2012. Photo; Cindy Schwarzstein

The mandala work of Robert Moondragon and Scott O’Keefe at LIB in 2012. Photo: Cindy Schwarzstein

Robert Moondragon and Scott O’Keefe working on their mandala installation at LIB in 2014. Photo: Cindy Schwarzstein

Michelle Berc of Create: Fixate who will be performing a Sonic Being Crystal Sound Bath at LIB this year.

We are especially excited that percussionist Julio Moreno of Early Bird Circus, who is performing at LIB will be our Cartwheel Art photographer again this year. Photo: Cindy Schwarzstein from LIB 2012