For the 55th time, the wild and wooly wheels of the Kinetic Grand Championship rolled through the Arcata Plaza, down the sandy dunes at Dead Man’s Drop, into Humboldt Bay (and hopefully back to shore) and southward on the long trek to Ferndale. After three days of escalating challenges, roadside repairs and grueling pedaling, Trashlantis […]
Kinetic sculpture
Posted inArts + Scene
El Pulpo Magnifico to Light Up Arts Alive
Bring your sunglasses to Arts Alive Saturday, Dec. 3, as local artist and Burning Man regular Duane Flatmo will be firing up El Pulpo Magnifico, recently touring heir to the retired legendary kinetic sculpture El Pulpo Mecanico. The enormous mechanical octopus will brandish its flaming tentacles from 6 to 9 p.m. at the foot of E Street, […]
Posted inNews
Kinetic Rides Again
The rest of the world is trying to get back to “normal” but here in Humboldt, we’re just happy to go out in the fresh air and get weird again. After two years of paused and remote races, the human-powered Kinetic Grand Championship once again rolled around the Arcata Plaza, down the Manila Dunes, into […]
Posted inLife + Outdoors
For the Glory and All the Marbles
Every Memorial Day weekend, sculptures come to life with the beating hearts of those furiously pedaling and rowing inside them. With a 50-mile course around Humboldt County, one would assume the teams are training day and night to make the trek, but that’s not the case for all teams. For teams with members nearly as […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Photos from the Rhody Parade and Salt & Fog Fish Fest
It was a busy weekend in Eureka. Folks were out early Saturday, staking out curbside seating to watch as the annual Rhododendron Parade wound its way through town. Once the bands, VW bugs and flower-powered kinetic sculptures finished the route, it was time to hustle down to Old Town for the inaugural Salt & Fog […]
Posted inArts + Scene
This Crab is Metal
In case the giant silver crab raising its pincers above the chain link fence around Spaulding Construction’s parking lot off U.S. Highway 101 by Kristina’s in Eureka has you wondering, you aren’t hallucinating and you didn’t miss the Kinetic Grand Championship. The shining crustacean on wheels is the work of metal artist Dan McCauley of […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Duane Flatmo’s Dragon Heads for the Smithsonian
How do you pack a giant, flaming scrap-metal monster on wheels? Artist and Burning Man regular Duane Flatmo has done it plenty of times with his iconic fire-spouting octopus “El Pulpo Mecanico.” But now he’s shipping the fiery dragon he built in 2009 to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. The museum will display the gleaming […]
Posted inArts + Scene
Putting a Bird Back On It
You may recall that on Dec. 3, 2015, some damn fool(s) wrenched one of the 5 1/2-foot-long aluminum birds off Jack Sewell’s “Following Current Events,” kinetic sculpture at the C Street Market Square. The bird, which sat high up in the 23-foot-tall piece, never was returned. However, after a year of working to secure funding from […]
Posted inNews
Hot Bird: Public Sculpture Theft in Eureka
Somewhere between the night of Thursday, Dec. 3 and the following morning, someone pried one of the enormous metal birds off Jack Sewell’s “Following Current Events,” the kinetic sculpture at the C Street Market Square. The birds, made of 1/4-inch-thick aluminum, are positioned between 11 and 15 feet up, with wingspans of 5 1/2 feet. […]
Posted inArts + Scene
“Turn up” at the Rutabaga Ball
Get ready to trip the light kinetic. Memorial Day weekend is just around the corner and Humboldtians know what that means: The Kinetic Grand Championship! Before the peddling and paddling starts, though, Humboldt needs a new Rutabaga Queen. Someone has to reign over the wacky proceedings and it can’t just be anybody. The Rutabaga Ball is Saturday, May […]