When Richmond installation artist Sean Orlando was growing up in Long Island, he spent hours inside of the backyard treehouse his father had built for him and his siblings. It was a place to daydream, to fantasize about other worlds, filling him with a sense of whimsy and wonder.
Orlando, now a parent himself, hasn’t lost his childlike imagination and penchant for creating new worlds, tapping it as inspiration for an art career spanning more than two decades.
His latest piece under construction at Seaport Studios in south Richmond is a 50-foot interactive metal treehouse filled with magical objects. Titled Above & Below, the immersive sculpture will make its debut at this year’s Burning Man festival, which will be held Aug. 30 to Sept. 7. This year’s theme is Axis Mundi, “a celebration of interconnectedness, our ties to the natural world, and our shared social realities,” according to the organizers.
“I have always been fascinated by tree houses … it’s a small enclosed space that can transport you where you want to go,” Orlando told Richmondside.
The piece was inspired by Geppetto’s workshop from the children’s “Pinocchio” story and Leonardo da Vinci, a painter, architect, engineer and inventor who filled sketchbooks with designs for bicycles, helicopters and airplanes long before it was technologically possible to build them.
Above & Below is the autobiographical interpretation of an inventor and his daughter who are tinkering around in a workshop. Visitors will enter the ground-level cottage and sift through artifacts, maps, inventions, drawings and tools before climbing a narrow, winding metal beanstalk to the top. Along the way, guests will be invited to find keys that unlock treasure boxes filled with objects that they can keep.
A core team of welders, carpenters and more than 50 volunteers have been working on the project since June, racing the clock to finish the piece in time to transport it by truck more than 300 miles away to Black Rock City in Nevada.
“Home is a sacred and grounding space but also a place for creativity and play,” Orlando told Richmondside. “My hope is that the piece takes people out of their usual and mundane and adds mystery and magic to their lives because we all have an innate attraction to the unknown.”
Orlando made a name for himself in the Bay Area arts scene creating immersive installations not only for Burning Man but for private and public clients. He has exhibited at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, the de Young Museum and the Exploratorium, and his sculptures can be found in private collections and in public spaces such as parks and plazas around the country.
This is the first time in more than a decade that Orlando will have a piece on the Burning Man playa. He was the lead builder of Storied Haven, a 30-foot-tall boot with a roof and chimney inspired by Mother Goose and designed by Bree Hylkema. It’s now at the Paradise Ridge Sculpture Garden and Winery in Santa Rosa. Above & Below will likely also end up similarly publicly displayed, as are many of the festival’s artworks.
“It’s been a while since there has been anything that tall on the playa and it’s really something to be that high up in a structure with an unobstructed view for miles,” said Stephanie Shipman, the lead wood artist on Above & Below and a Seaport Studios tenant.
Building a $450,000 artwork stimulates local economy, artists say
The $450,000 sculpture is funded by Engineered Artworks and FiveTon Crane, an Oakland-based artist collective that offers emerging artists mentorship, shop space and fiscal sponsorships.
To many artists involved in the project, it’s money well spent. “Art is life,” said Jay Kravitz, the executive producer for Engineered Artworks, Orlando’s fabrication company housed at Seaport Studios. “Bay Area art spaces are getting gobbled up by developers, so the fact that we have a safe space here that’s not going to go away is unusual. It’s an honor to be involved in something like this.”
Amanda Denz, a spokesperson for Engineered Artworks, sees the project as an economic driver for local arts.
“It’s employing a bunch of artists, welders and carpenters and outsourcing work to people with niche skills,” she said. “It’s supporting the livelihood of many artists while building community. People form lifelong friendships here.”
To learn more about the Above & Below art project or to donate or volunteer, visit seanorlando.com/above-below.
