Burning Man, Me, and Home

As an adult I have learned that my family is made up of people I love unconditionally; whether they are blood, friends, acquaintances, or strangers. I describe Burning Man as a reunion of the 50,000 family members I haven’t met yet. BM is my home, for those seven days I am loved and spend my days loving. After attending BM in 2008 and 2009 I am hoping that I can show my love and appreciation through art in 2010. In addition to my installation, I will continue my participation as a member of Pleasure Garden inside Snowflake Village and work my shifts on the Esplanade manning the sunscreen station.

I can imagine Home placed on the playa with people relaxing inside, dancing, performing, children playing house. Having experienced the terrible windstorms, I have considered the strong winds and will have 5 inch openings worked within the fabric in each row of patchwork to allow the wind to pass thru but, hopefully, avoiding filling the home with playa dust.

A Burner's Home

Home Today:
It seems like now, in this tumultuous world we live in, the idea of a home has left us all. My family has been hit hard by the fall of the economy. Both my father and my brother have felt the fall and pressure and at 24, when it seems like so many of my peers are going “home” for the holidays I am glad to know that, if nothing else, we are all safe and healthy because my Home is tucked safe away inside of me. I refuse to let the ideal of a home be swept away by a fleeting poor market. The stereotype of a Home is evolving. No longer is a mother, father, 2.5 kids, and a dog the standard nor the desire. I have been hoping that this poor economy, these tough times, would help to bring Americans together; reinstate a sense of home within us all; force us to look outside the stereotype and create a new way of viewing relationships, contentment, human interactions.

Imagined with front yard

Installation Description

Description:

Home is more than a physical installation; it is a memory, an ideal, a future.

My vision of Home will incorporate many of the traditional and expected pieces that make up a persons residence, all created from fabric::

A lush green front yard
Patchworked green fabrics as grass, knitted green yard, and crocheted flowers attached as a garden

A walkway to the front door and white picket fence
Gray patchwork weaving its way to the front door thru the grass of the yard, a white picket fence acting as a way to step into the installation as well as a source of lighting at night

A growing tree beside the house
Wood, wire hangers, and chicken wire wrapped to make a trunk and covered in brown patchwork fabric. Recycled cardboard covered in green fabric as the leaves

A backyard equipped with a pool and rock formations
Blue patchwork formed into a circle creating a pool/lake surrounded by pillows covered in gray patchwork and adornments to give the appearance of rocks and seating

A full sized housing structure, large enough to be lived in, epitomizing a ranch style home
-An indoor wall covered with safety pins, fabric, and pens to encourage thoughts, dreams, images to add to the art inside -Pillows covered in multi-colored patchwork as seating

Arial View of Home Layout

Artist Background

Artist Background:
THERESA GALEANI

Education
Marymount Manhattan College – New York, NY
Bachelor of Arts, Theatre Arts – 2009

University of the Arts – Philadelphia, PA
Adjunct Student – 2002

Collective Participant
Atypic Thoughts
Your Boyfriends Band Sux
The Suns Birthday
Circle Arts

Previous Exhibitions
Beta Spaces – Brooklyn, NY
The Nut Roaster, Brooklyn Fireproof – Brooklyn, NY
Market Hotel – Brooklyn, NY
Bowery Poetry Club – Manhattan, NY
Cake Shop – Manhattan, NY
Goodbye Blue Monday – Brooklyn, NY
Figment – Gov. Island, NY

Wickerman – Artuas, PA

Renderings concerning the frame of the HOME, thanks to Gaines Soloman!

Now imagine a front yard, a back yard, walkway, white picket fence, etc. All covered in hand sewn patchwork fabrics!

Pleading My Case:::

Pleading my case:
I have been dedicated to making this installation a reality for the last 2 years, however, money and space have held me back. Last year I found myself with a grant and donations totaling $500, and made it go FAR creating a single room “Hippie Home” version and shared the piece at “Wickerman” in Pennsylvania, “Figment” arts festival on Governors Island, NYC, Central Park, and various art showings.
Space is no longer an issue, I have been given the opportunity to work for free at a friends art space in Brooklyn, NY. Preemptively I’ve already gotten my hands on three sewing machines and a long list of workers ready to donate their evenings to stitching and bitching in exchange for the odd pizza pie. I already have use of a fantastic architect who has assisted with the plans and scaling of the project and will also be on the playa assisting in the build.
I have lived my adult life in New York City, the American Metropolis. I love the nightlife, the art, the culture, it is, after all, “the city that never sleeps”. However, my childhood in small town America has created some personal confusion; a sincere duality between lights and glamour and a quiet seashore.

While Creating....

All art comes at a cost, while cutting found fabric with a circular cutter I cut off a good chunk of my finger. Ah, the price we pay for art...