GATHER BY FIRE:

a backyard ritual sculpture burn (for Matthew Mark)

Organized by Caitlind r.c. Brown

May 10, 2025

Every year, we host a fiery art tribute to our late, great friend & collaborator, Matthew Mark Bourree. Participating artists make sculptures out of wood or cardboard, and we burn them together in a communal ritual ringing in the Spring.

Hearkening to primal relationships, GATHER BY FIRE was named for an artwork by Sarah Smalik & Matthew Mark, and speaks to the great and mystical magnetism of people towards light, heat, and each other.

PARTICIPANTS:

Audrey Lane Cockett
Caitlind r.c. Brown
Daniel Barossa
Dale Meyer, Veronica Murphy, and Sadie
Eric Heitmann
Joanne MacDonald
Keith Rodger
Wayne Garrett

+ a Christmas Tree contribution from Matthew Waddell & Laura Anzola

_{Above: a bundle of double-sided candles.}

This year, our lovely neighbours Dale Meyer, Veronica Murphy, and their rad kid Sadie started us off with a hedgehog-kitty – a fire-starter of sorts.

Sadie’s fire-starter triggered a sculpture by Wayne Garrett, created intuitively from offcut wood and deadfall.

The next piece was a participatory performance. Caitlind Brown offered the group a handful of double-sided candles, reserved for those who had recently lost someone. The first flame was lit from the fire, and from there, we passed the fire around the circle ~ a ring of candles burning at both ends.

We held the candles until we couldn’t anymore. Two made it to the end, fingers caked in hot wax, wicks burning out.

Eric Heitmann’s contribution was conceptual and narrative. He read us a story around the fire, penned about his own life ~ the perfect dark vulnerability for a sculpture burn ~ before singing to us in his native tongue.

Joanne MacDonald was the next to offer a sculpture. Built from friction-fit willow and backyard scraps, fire geysered up the centre of the piece, roasting the sphere on top in a dramatic ignition.

We took a brief break to roast a Christmas tree, contributed by Matthew Waddell & Laura Anzola (always dramatic and joyful).

Keith Rodger made a cardboard coffin as an ode to his grandmother, who never had a funeral. The cross on top was made from cigarettes. He delivered a brief but piercingly funny eulogy and played her a song on his flute.

Next, Daniel Barossa burned his sculptures. Drawing from his skills as a carpenter, Dan made a series of beautiful, dense, geometric sculptures from wood. They burned surprisingly well on the hot embers from previous works ~ a passing of heat and flame.

With assistance from Clare Preuss, Audrey Lane staged a communal gesture of magic in a confetti of fiery flower petals.

The group was invited to dip into a big jar of dried bouquets from their Mom’s old boyfriends. As a group, we threw the petals into the fire, creating a swoosh of sparks: old flames for new flames.

The final piece of the night was created by Caitlind Brown. A portal had been constructed from grasses and dried garden trimmings – clear cut in preparation for Spring.

_{Photos by Alex Mitchell}

She ignited the dried grasses, and then passed slowly through the burning portal. Then the group was invited to follow, in a collective rite of cleansing.