Serenity

Flaming Lotus Girls

We are a female-driven, volunteer-based group of artists who make interactive, large-scale, fire and metal art installations. Our vision is to empower people to develop fabrication and leadership skills and to become experienced artists by fostering a supportive, hands-on, educational environment. We began in 2000 as a group of six women and two men who wanted to design and build sculptural installations. Since then, we’ve grown to well over 200 members. Women are the majority here, but we welcome all genders. Through regular meetings, collaborative design sessions, and skills workshops, we design and build our art through an open process with a flat organizational structure. All of our members are volunteers who step up to tasks and management roles based on their commitment levels on a project basis. We work together in an egalitarian fashion, accepting input from anyone who participates. People may join the Flaming Lotus Girls with no previous experience in metalworking or fire arts. There are hands-on opportunities for members to learn the techniques used in the design, fabrication, and operation of our projects. We hold meetings both in-person in San Francisco and virtually. Newcomers are always welcome to attend. Our work falls somewhere between sculpture and kinetics, and it always involves flame effects and crowd interaction — we invite everyone to become part of the art. Our sculptures are made of some combination of steel, copper, aluminum, glass, resin, and wood, and they range in size from pretty small to really, really big. Our flames blaze from 2 inches to 100 feet.