Art Installations
Summer Meltdown is honored to welcome the following artists and their installations to our 2022 event!
You Are a Powerful Divine Being

About
Imagine a sacred space where you can reflect and connect, where divine energy is holding space around you and holding up a mirror for you to see your true, luminous, Self. This art-altar installation will create a sanctuary where those who are called to it can ground and tap into the healing power of divine, love energy. There will be several altars with spaces to sit or stand in front of them so multiple people can peacefully engage at once. Colorful fabrics and earthy elements will create a beautiful and natural ambiance. As the main feature, the altars will have large (weather proof) prints of visionary art, each with a different theme and energy. Each image will be accompanied by some written guidance (specific to each piece of art,) to offer the viewers ways to witness and expand into the truth of their divinity. For those who would like, there will be paper and colorful pens and pencils to write or draw intentions, gratitudes and prayers, offering multiple ways for people to use the space to pause and integrate their experiences. The intention is that by creating a calming, sacred space with empowering visual and written inspiration, we invite profound, meaningful transformation into people’s lives!
About the artist
Erika Merz of Rise Up with H’ART: Visionary artist, spiritual empowerment guide, ecstatic dancer, energy worker and prison abolitionist, Erika’s work is informed by the way she experiences divine energy and by movements for social change. Her work carries strong intentions to empower us, to re-member our divinity, the wisdom and purpose of our lives, and to awaken collective, heart-centered action for healing and radical culture change. People describe her art as portals to the divine, inviting viewers to access powerful, spiritual states within themselves. Inspired by these ideas? She welcome’s you to reach out and connect!
www.riseupwithhart.com
Frick Frack Black Jack

About
Frick Frack Blackjack is an interactive art installation that revolves around the concepts of value and bartering. We play a game of blackjack matching item for item as a bet, but the value placed on each is up to interpretation. The real action of the game is in the bartering and the light banter between the dealer and player and it is what makes our game really something different that you won’t find anywhere else. Our goal is to provide a unique experience that changes not only nightly but between each hand that is dealt and each barter that is made. When monetary worth is no longer the determining factor, then what makes something valuable? The game helps to teach people to reevaluate the value of what they have outside of a monetary construct and instead see it in real terms. It also allows an avenue for one to separate out the things in their life they love vs. everything else. We would love to bring the same set up to Summer Meltdown this year that we brought in 2019, which is the green wagon set up we have. This set up is made for a crew of 4-5 performers and can be a great late night installation, or whenever you feel it is appropriate for the performance. The proposal for which is in the google drive link below. We are open to creative ways to make budget and we are flexible to make it work out.
About the artist
Looking for a game? I bet you won’t find one quite like this one. The game’s Frick Frack Blackjack, a barter based blackjack game where you can bet anything in the world that is not money. Step right up and test your luck against our many wonderful dealers. We are all hustlers and swindlers of sorts but we don’t want your money, we’re after your shoelaces. Think you have what it takes to beat us at our own game?
www.frickfrackblackjack.com
Dr. Pyne's Art Oasis

About
My instillation is an emersive walk-through/lounge experience, which combines big plants and big artwork (ranging up to mural size), and bazzare style fabrics decorating the inside of one or two enclosed canopies. The goal is to create an art oasis for those who travel through the instillation. Upon walking in the tent door, there is a sense of being back in nature. Everything is intentional and meditative. Plants and rugs are arranged to give people a choice in their path through the area. Each path bringing you past a different series of artwork, and all end in a round floor lounge where people can gather and talk, or sit and contemplate privately. After setting up the oasis, I will be live-painting the entire time to provide entertainment and give energy to the space while people are enjoying their time there. My artwork is vivid and colorful interpretations of plants, animals, and spirituality; and is an extension of the organic environment I intend to set.
About the artist
Dustin is a visionary artist based on Portland, Oregon. He is one of the founders of The Haven- art collective & gallery, and he specializes in creating emersive walk-through environments with plants, fabrics, and his large mural-size paintings. Dustin’s artwork is vivid and organic, and combines the duality of order in the universe and the chaos of nature.
www.dustinpyne.com
The Waning Moon tribe

About
The Waning Moon House of Traveling Tea is a large canvas tent that holds a beautiful Oasis tea lounge. The lounge creates a safe and cozy space for patrons. We serve three hand blended teas, one of which is non-caffeinated. The teahouse hold elegant seating space for serving herbal elixirs and pillows and comfy things for people to relax and share space in. We educate patrons on the teas that we serve as well as engaging in a playful setting as we serve. Ideally the tea house will open during the late evenings when it is colder so that people can come get warm, decompress, and connect with the community.
About the artist
The waning moon is a wandering teahouse full of whimsy, warmth, and wonder. The teahouse offers a unique interaction for any occasion. Tailored to the specific needs of your affair, waning moon will enhance your event with an enthusiastic, exhilarating engagement for all of your guests. We serve up an elegant array of ethically-sourced elixirs sure to please all of your patrons. After all, a cup of tea should not just be something you sip, but a meaningful experience.
https://www.instagram.com/the_waning_moon_teahouse/
The Haven Art Collective

About
The Haven is a full spectrum experiment in co-creation where the fostering of creative community and personal growth of the artist takes priority. It’s our thought that in that sort of environment art happens organically as a byproduct. In our Portland location, we are a living and breathing gallery.. a collective of painters, musicians, tech artists, teachers, healers, psychedelic therapists, podcasters, tea artists, and solutionary minded activists. Our goal is to dispel the idea of the lonely starving artist while bringing the healing nature of transformational festival culture to the urban environment. For festivals we are your one stop live painting installation. Our collective is full of seasoned festival painters. Including, but not limited to: Moksha Marquardt, Danny Stephens (who painted the last two Meltdowns, Adam One, Justin Potts, Sara Swallowtail and Lava Luyah. We also bring tech artists with projection mapping software to create interactive projections on displayed pieces of art. All of this is in a welcoming and comfortable environment for attendees to feel open and receptive to the art. Another key feature is that most painters we bring are trained in Harm Reduction. This adds a significant value, as the live painters commonly become a refuge for the over whelmed.
About the artist
As a collective in our accent towards novelty, art bridges the gaps that language leaves open. I feel that the hivemind produces solutions to our problems through the creative expression of any individual who pauses long enough to feel the pull. My art is about curiosity. Each painting is a dive into a particular observation hoping to visually explain what I fall so short on linguistically. As for why I paint.. I truly don’t know. It’s just the closest thing to what feels right at the moment.
DannyStephensArt.com
"Rainbow Renaissance" Live art by Rae Vena visual artist

About
Welcome to the “Rainbow Renaissance” presenting the 2022 radiant paint palette of Rae Vena visual artist. Rae, (she/her) is a visionary painter in the pacific northwest, creating art to awaken the senses. Art that offers space to laugh, love, cry, dance, heal and above and below all – just be you! With a new collection of live paintings on display from the pastel neon realm to the dark metallic rainbow, Rae seeks to invoke creative energy from the music and movement in a vibrancy of acrylic paint. We can become truly present and embrace this collective moment if we open the soul to be the knowing that now is the time we have together to celebrate and rejoice with life. The art of “Rainbow Renaissance” will invite you to envision this moment forward, arriving perfectly just as it is. There are blessings in the ever-expanding gift of change. The renaissance can take place in your heart, your mind, how you see the world, who you are. Together we co-create the abundance of opportunities to be here now. Inviting you to be free and explore the Rae Vena 2022 gallery of visionary pop surrealism and spiritual art at: www.Raevena.com/gallery.
About the artist
Rae Vena is a visual artist and live performance painter of visionary pop surrealism. Inspired to create from the spark within, her artwork is transformational in nature and uses acrylics to share a radiant paint palette ranging from pastel neon to dark metallic rainbow. Through the experience of live painting, Rae celebrates with a mix of eccentric art styles, acquired from her festival travels. Creating art that offers you permission to laugh, love, cry, dance, heal and just be you! You can find Rae Vena creating her prismatic paintings this summer to her new 2022 theme “Rainbow Renaissance”. www.raevena.com, @raevena_visual_artist
www.raevena.com
Live Painting

About
I would love to create a painting on a canvas (or a mural on a wall if you have one in mind) inspired by the summer and celebration happening at the festival. I usually paint for 8 to 10 hours a day and let it unfold over the weekend. If there is no designated painting area (like next to a stage) I do roaming painting to surprise passersby.
About the artist
Mercedes is a visual artist from Michigan in the United States. Drawing ever since she was old enough to hold a pencil, she earned a BFA in Illustration at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2015, and she travels internationally sharing her creations. Her work explores the energetic interconnection of our planet and its beauty as a practiced antidote to apathetic heaviness of daily life. Thematic anchors of femininity, rest, and grace toward the self are enlivened with mania-inducing colors and buoyancy. These works are not only a catharsis of the soul, but a celebration of it.
www.mercedesjoyknapp.art
Live Painting 2022

About
My installment will include a 4x5ft blank canvas, that I will freehand a new design on from start to finish for the duration of your event. Im looking to set up near the Late Night Stage as an extension of the Secret Sounds silent disco but also will work on the piece throughout the day. I will be using marker and acrylic for materials.
About the artist
Trevor Capps is an artist best known for creating diverse transitions of depth through the separation of negative space and intersecting line work . You’ll find that his art implies energy in motion while entrancing the eye through multidimensional detail. Trevor also freehands most of his work , offering a unique experience to a wide audience.
http://tiny.cc/Trevorcappsart
Projected Reflection

About
Welcome to Sacred Squish, a shrine to the importance of play and losing oneself in sensory experiences. Join us at our interactive installation and celebrate light, color, movement, and tomfoolery with friends.
About the artist
Claire Simpson is a multimedia artist raised in New Jersey and now a Bellinghamster. Her mediums include photography, sculpture, performance art, and most of the time these collide to create pieces that are dynamic and interactive. She creates work that the public can interact with, because to her, inspiring another person to think creatively is more powerful than any piece that she could make on her own. When Claire is not arting, she works for a nonprofit called Industree, based in India, that generates livelihoods for women through artisan craft and clothing production.
Https://www.phoenixbutterfly.
Noah Mireault, 33 years old, is the owner and operator at Brindle Ridge Construction. His whole life has revolved around building and creating ever since he was a kid, from building snow forts in Canada, installing mechanical systems, and building a glassblowing studio. He is an outdoor enthusiast, world traveler, crafstman, husband to an amazing woman, and a human who is profoundly excited about the journey rather than the destination. As a general contractor who focuses on residential remodels and repairs, he works with his clients to help them grow their ideas, complete their goals, and exceed their expectations, and is so grateful to have found a passion that is both satisfying and rewarding.
EYE SEE

About
I was the most recent install art coordinator for Cascadia NWAMF and I would love to get involved since this is now my local festival. I have a metal structure that I built for a UFO interactive install. I would like to keep it rather simple and hang a sculpture of a jellyfish like a chandelier and then decorate with fabrics and lights to fill out the space. I will be developing the final form as I go with materials that I can get my hands on.
https://www.instagram.com/bom.bur.ro/
Giant wing-flapping butterfly

Please note: the Butterfly is NOT built yet so the pic is just a placeholder! This thing is going to be wild.
About
We would like to bring a soon-to-be-built GIANT BUTTERFLY. We will be building this for a festival this summer and would love to bring it to Meltdown. It will have a wingspan of over 15’ and will have a mechanism that makes the wings flap. It will be lit from below as well as having lights on the wings, eyes, and antennae. There will be a safety fence around it to keep people away from the moving parts. We brought our Psychedahlia Garden to the last Meltdown and it was a huge success (you even use a picture of it for this application link!)
About the artist
Tyler FuQua Creations are creators of mind blowing, interactive art. Giant flowers? Check. Giant robots? Check. Cosmic Space Worm? Check. If your mind isn’t blown then we aren’t doing our job.
www.tylerfuquacreations.com