Last Thursday was the 1st Burning Man Happy Hour in San Francisco! We’d like to thank everyone who took time from their busy schedule to come talk about playa art. Despite the short-notice announcement, we had ten dusty artists join the meetup, which happened on Thursday, April 14.
The first edition of BMHH was thrown together at the last minute, yet unfolded with great participation and burner fabulousness! While the monthly “happy hour” event had been in planning mode for a while, we decided to host the FIRST event in April (about a week earlier!!!). So, the actual announcement came just a few days before the event.
We announced the Burning Man Happy Hour on TechShop’s Meetup page, local burner groups on Facebook, and to the members of TechShop. Even with busy schedules all around, we had a great turnout. Some people brought samples of their projects, and we gave informal tours of TechShop SF to newcomers.
All the attendees had great stories and information to share, whether they were Burning Man regulars or planning their first trip to playa. A few guests also brought some in-progress projects to share and discuss! Ryan and Griffen were at TechShop that night to work on the ShopBot Alpha, a CNC machine. They popped into the meetup before going down to the woodshop - they were cutting out panels that will eventually become the stage at the Burning Man camp Dustfish.
Mark from DeMentha camp had two awesome personal projects to share - both were in-progress but still quite impressive! He is building a wearable el-wire heart infinity mirror, and he plans to make multiples and give them to camp mates. And as cool as that was, it doesn’t compete with his Da Vinci-inspired, functioning wings! He brought a video of them in action and it was impressive to see them in motion. In the next few months, he’ll be working on a way to skin the wing frames that keeps them light. I can’t wait to see all of these finished projects on playa!
If you’re interested in attending the next Burning Man Happy Hour, we’d love to have you!
The meetup is held on the 2nd Thursday of every month at TechShop SF. For updates, please submit your name and email!