Ancient Future Portal — Proposal
This series of images explores the concept and development of Ancient Future Portal, a large-scale wooden sculpture proposed for Burning Man 2025. The piece is part of my Ancient Future series—a body of work that imagines ceremonial objects created by a culture that had contact with a distant, advanced civilization. Something learned, remembered, or left behind. Familiar but unplaceable.
This piece is meant to create a still point—a structure that feels timeless, grounded, and quietly alive. It’s not interactive in a traditional sense, but participatory in the way it holds space and invites presence. A marker, a message, or a receiver. A thing that feels like it was waiting for you.
Image 1: This is the primary proposal rendering and represents the direction I’m most excited about. It captures the overall form and presence of the piece, with a slightly larger and more substantial central body. The central hole represents the “veil” between the mundane and the abstract—a quiet portal meant to draw people upward and inward. The surface will be fully hand-carved from solid wood, with tool marks left visible to reveal the human hand in the process.
Image 2: A technical line drawing showing the sculpture from multiple angles, including top and side views. These serve as structural and visual references for building and assembly. The form includes five legs—two in front, two behind, and one central leg that reaches straight down like a rooted spine.
Image 3: A watercolor sketch exploring the idea of the fifth leg extending directly into the earth, like a taproot. It introduces a gesture of growth and grounding—almost as if the sculpture is birthing something through its connection to the ground. It’s a symbolic gesture of life, emergence, and deep relationship with place. While I’m continuing to experiment with variations, I’m most drawn to the proportion and presence shown in Image 1.
Image 4: A visual rendering that reflects the intended surface texture and final coloring of the piece. This image, like the others, explores proportion and scale—how the piece might sit in the vastness of the Playa. The final size will depend on transport and budget, but my goal is to build it as large as possible while preserving the clarity and presence of the form.