Photos: Fire Arts Festival lights up Oakland nights

Now in its 9th season, the Fire Arts Festival is a celebration of fire sculpture and art that just wrapped up four days of performance in Oakland, Calif., July 15-18.

A fundraiser for the nonprofit organization, the Fire Arts Festival celebrates some of the industrial skills that are taught at the educational facility. Installations, demonstrations, and workshops on display in this once vacant Oakland lot include stone carving, electronic arts, glass blowing, welding skills, blacksmithing, jewelry making, woodworking, and neon design.

With the smell of propane in the air, take a stroll through one hot night in Oakland, Calif.

This year's feature performance on the center stage was The Rootabaga Opera, a musical story by Dan Cantrell, which incorporated elements of puppetry, song, dance, fire arts, and theater.

Background scenery for the opera was projected in the form puppets. Backlit metal templates projected scenery onto the stage.

The open air fire exhibition lit up the sky in west Oakland.

Teachers who lead classes held at the Crucible were set up at the festival, demonstrating their trades, which included metal working and blacksmithing, seen here.

The heart and flower-like Pnuema & Spike filled the sculpture garden, where the smell of propane filled the air with flickering flames.

Installations by Dan Das Mann, Karen Cusolito, Nate Smith Fire Vortex, False Profit Labs, Michael Christian, and Mark Perez were scattered through the yard in a festival which was three times larger than last year's show.

Beneath the freeways of west Oakland, twisted metal sculptures belched flame into the air. Here we see The Golden Mean by John Sarriugarte.

Exotic, elegant, and eerie, the artistic elements combine during the finale of the Rootabaga Opera.

Beneath Interstate 580 in west Oakland, the first fires of the night light up the sky at the Fire Arts Festival.

The flaming mohawk-like Fishbug, by Rebecca Anders.

A circle of fans blowing toward the center flame in Nate Smith's tornado-like Fire Vortex.

A long, hot night in Oakland, as the fire sculptures light up the festival grounds.