SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB\/WSHM) – A Hampshire County artist is going big at one of the world\u2019s most famous art festivals with a sculpture like never before and he\u2019s looking for your help to make it happen. <\/p>\n
Ezra Livingston wants to build a 30-foot tall wooden garden gnome with pyrotechnics shooting flames out of its hat and mouth.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s planning to bring it to the Burning Man Festival in Nevada pending final design approval. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like you\u2019re on another planet, it\u2019s a harsh environment, there\u2019s a lot of challenges, and you are working with a community, which is really, really wonderful,\u201d Livingston said. <\/p>\n
A 1999 graduate of UMass Amherst, he has made a career out of making murals, building treehouses, and other art projects.<\/p>\n
He first went to Burning Man as a spectator in 2014 and 2015 and has since has at least one installation at the event beginning in 2016, from La Victrola to Shrine of the Macabre to Andas the Turtle. <\/p>\n
This year, he and his team will be working on his biggest project yet. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy girlfriend\u2019s mom, she gave us these little gnomes. And I was like \u2018this is really cool.\u2019 I think a gnome is just a wonderful, mythical creature,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Teammates are working on part of the project on the West Coast while Livingston waits to get to work on the gnome at family properties in Shelburne Falls and Easthampton. <\/p>\n
The installation recently became one of 75 to receive a $16,000 honorarium grant that would be used to help transport what is built, but Livingston says more assistance is needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking for wood, some pine cladding, things like that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are also looking for makers, builders, {and} doers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Livingston says the project carries a bigger message. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe need more creativity to celebrate life and human existence, and I think this is a big part of it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n