In the spring and summer of 2000 Charlie Smith and Syd Klinge designed and built a twenty foot tall fire sculpture called 'Hearth'. We brought it to the Black Rock desert and burned it every night for a week at Burning Man. The piece is modeled after a human heart with the arteries serving as chimneys for the giant furnace. Made entirely out of steel, some mild and some stainless, the two cords of hardwood that we would load into the heart and burn each night were easily enough to heat the structure to a yellow orange glow.

Addendum: Now it is already 2002 AD. Charlie 'Chunks' Smith and I (Syd Klinge that is..) brought our huge burning Hearth back to the desert for Burning Man 2001 and burned it every night once again. As much as we tried to reinforce the beast with hundreds of pounds of extra steel before the event last year, it's finally coming apart at the seams. Though it's burning days are mostly over, it still stands sentinal at the Black Rock work ranch in Nevada, winter winds whispering through it's bones while hearkening to the seasonal return of a thousand voices. Rest well, for your fire burns on in all our hearts.
The base and the framework all had to break down into shippable pieces since we built the piece in Atlanta and needed to ship it to Nevada.
Charlie came up with a beautiful idea where the whole thing would hinge together like a giant flower. Somehow the entire sculpture fit on half of a tractor trailer.
Hearth or the egg?
The madness only just begun to set in here. We didn't sleep much during those weeks. The only people we would see were those that would stop by the shop. Perhaps the sweet death fumes had begun to take their toll.
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