8-foot plumes of fire spew from our 80-foot mosaic dragon with a boom that is sure to make your heart skip a beat! The body of the dragon protects the inner dragon’s den, where visitors have left a trove of treasures for safe keeping. You’ll also find the Birch Man nestled-in amongst the wealth of treasures!
All said and done it took 3 years to build the Dragon. I finished it circa 2016. It didn’t start out breathing fire either. That turned out to be a magnificent afterthought. What I was aware of during the process is that I was also building his body into a den where he would house his treasures. All the permanent brilliant blue glass out there was representative of these treasures.
In 2019 a few years after he was initially “completed” and he had matured it was time for him to unleash the fire within. I ran into a burning man artist (Swig Miller) who I ended up collaborating with to facilitate this. 4 or 5 days later this monument was breathing 8-foot plumes of fire!
It was never planned to be a memorial. I never had that thought to myself.
I always had the idea that the treasures inside would continue to populate, though. Almost as soon as it was done, people started to leave things there. It seemed that it suddenly had become a world of tchotchkes, Happy Meal™ toys, and plastic characters from all over.
They all came alive and created a bustling little community of characters that would grow and grow. Prayer cards began to appear. Personal mementos then would begin to filter in. In time I realized that it had become a place where people would come to memorialize loved ones by leaving mementos of them.
Treasures of the Dragon’s Den . . .
