Fire woman
Local artist Lauri Sherman makes art out of flames
By Lisa Snider 09/04/2008
Deep in a canyon off the Casitas Pass between Ojai and Carpinteria, Lauri Sherman is playing with fire. So far, though, she hasn’t been burned.
“I have never blistered,” says the 51-year-old local artist, who has been conjuring flames for the past year as a means to create a new kind of artwork.
It can only be explained by seeing it firsthand, Sherman says, as she pours gunpowder onto a wood plank, then lights it on fire. She sees me stand back, runs her hands through a shock of curly red hair, smiles, and says rather matter-of-factly when the flame quickly flickers out, “That’s it. Not too scary.”
The gunpowder Sherman uses is a slow-burning shotgun powder, which she says does not have the intense volatility and explosiveness of black gunpowder. The finished product is what Sherman calls a “fire pie.” The gunpowder is poured out onto the wood, coaxed by a dry paint brush into a design and then seared into the wood. She is surrounded by scraps of wood showcasing all of her experiments: a woman’s profile, a labyrinth, a mermaid and a spider web, to name a few.
A native of Tucson, Ariz., Sherman has been a porcelain and glass artist in the local area since the early ’90s. The porcelain figures on display in her home show an affinity for the Rubenesque female form, much like her own. As a full-figured nude model for some of the local fine arts adult learning programs, Sherman’s girth, as well as her work as a senior caregiver, helps pay the bills. “I’m a middle-aged heavy woman out in life, and I walk into the room there and I am a goddess,” she says of her classroom modeling. Her fascination with her newfound medium, though, is her current focus, and her work is evolving from fire pies to fire shows, an area she wants to explore as much as possible.
While filling one of her hollowed-out porcelain sculptures with gunpowder, she warns, “Now you’ll want to stand back.” She lights the makeshift Roman candle and the sound it makes is ominous, yet the fast-burning flame is impressive, even beautiful. “I never know what color it’s going to be.”
Sherman wipes the sweat from her brow before moving on to another demonstration with a 5-gallon plastic water jug. She pours a small amount of rubbing alcohol into it, then lights the vapor with a lighter. A fantastic whooshing sound suddenly erupts from the container, yielding a hot rainbow of gorgeous colors.
“It’s much more impressive in the dark,” Sherman says of the artistic images that are meant to be seen firsthand to be enjoyed. She invites friends over for potluck dinners then entertains them with a fire show. Many local photographers have come to capture the beautiful dancing flames. Sherman then manipulates the pictures in Photoshop, making for endless artistic possibilities.
Sherman talks about experimenting with other fuels, and speaks favorably of rum, which burns more slowly, creating a lingering image and a more pleasant odor.
“I don’t know if you should put that in the article, because you’re gonna start a bunch of pyros,” says Sherman, always aware of the risks and dangers, particularly in this dry, breezy canyon, a perfect breeding ground for wildfires.
“Safety is No. 1. I don’t do much of this during the red-flag season,” says Sherman, who has lived in the canyon for the past five years, sharing her rental home with a 120-pound malamute-wolf mix and four cats. She survived a mud flow that came through her kitchen and living room during the 2005 floods, but returned immediately after the clean up. “It’s a real sweet spot.”
Preserving this idyllic place is a priority for Sherman, who is diligent about safety. “I do not want the canyon burning down to be my legacy,” she says, adding, “I’ve been very careful and talked to a lot of people and done a lot of research. I’m not just going into this blind.”
Sherman is currently looking into what she needs to do with the fire department to take her show on the road and is even considering taking a pyrotechnics class. “I don’t want to get in trouble or burn anybody down.”
If you want to get on Sherman’s e-mail list, contact her at eccentrichild@yahoo.com. You just might get invited to a nighttime fire show potluck!
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