• Fire Arts Festival
  • The Rootabaga Opera
  • Peppets
  • fire arts festival
  • Art classes
  • Spitting fire
  • Fire Arts Festival
  • Fire Arts Festival
  • The Rootabaga Opera.
  • Sunset on fire
  • Fire burning bright
  • Fire Vortex
  • Set ablaze
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Photos: Fire Arts Festival lights up Oakland nights

Fire Arts Festival

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.

Photo by: James Martin/CNET

The Rootabaga Opera

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.
Photo by: James Martin/CNET

Peppets

Background scenery for the opera was projected in the form puppets. Backlit metal templates projected scenery onto the stage.
Photo by: James Martin/CNET

fire arts festival

The open air fire exhibition lit up the sky in west Oakland.
Photo by: James Martin/CNET

Art classes

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.
Photo by: James Martin/CNET

Spitting fire

The heart and flower-like Pnuema & Spike filled the sculpture garden, where the smell of propane filled the air with flickering flames.
Photo by: James Martin/CNET

Fire Arts Festival

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.
Photo by: James Martin/CNET

Fire Arts Festival

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

The Rootabaga Opera.

Exotic, elegant, and eerie, the artistic elements combine during the finale of the Rootabaga Opera.
Photo by: James Martin/CNET

Sunset on fire

Beneath Interstate 580 in west Oakland, the first fires of the night light up the sky at the Fire Arts Festival.
Photo by: James Martin/CNET

Fire burning bright

The flaming mohawk-like Fishbug, by Rebecca Anders.
Photo by: James Martin/CNET

Fire Vortex

A circle of fans blowing toward the center flame in Nate Smith's tornado-like Fire Vortex.
Photo by: James Martin/CNET

Set ablaze

A long, hot night in Oakland, as the fire sculptures light up the festival grounds.
Photo by: James Martin/CNET

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