Alchemy: Our History
2007 was the inaugural year for Alchemy. The 2007 event grew from a thought to a 350+ person participatory experience in a manner of months. After the conclusion of the 2007 burn, a town hall meeting was held in order for the team leads to recap their roles at the event, and to solicit comments from the community. A Board of Directors was voted on and chosen by the community to oversee finances for the burn and make key strategic policy decisions. The Alchemy festival and Flashpoint Artists Initiative strive to abide by the 10 Principles of Burning Man and the Mission Statement of the organization.
"The mission of Flashpoint Artists Initiative is to encourage growth & development of a community that promotes artistic creativity & freedom of expression."
The festival is run entirely by teams of volunteers who gift an incredible amount of personal time and effort. The Board has very limited responsibility, and relies on teams and team leads to make sure Alchemy happens!
Our Symbol
There have been a number of questions about the meanings behind the Alchemy logo.
Alchemy - The Georgia Burn began its life in November of 2006 at an area Meet and Greet, and held its first burn in 2007.
The name "Alchemy" was suggested early on and gained hold quickly. The name captured much of what participants do at a burn -- creating something magical, unique and powerful from the combination and ultimate destruction of common materials. Several attempts were made at developing a logo, including early logos based on the alchemical symbol for Phosphorus, among others. Then we hit upon using the alchemical symbols for the elements. A sketch was created that used the four traditional alchemical symbols corresponding to the elements of Earth , Fire Fire, Water and Air. These sketches were further refined in Photoshop, resulting in what we have today.
As is probably clear, the logo is a stacked set of the four elemental symbols. Where the original symbol had a line bisecting it, in the logo this becomes one of the two outer triangles. Put together, the elemental symbols create something very new in the Alchemy logo. As a side note, we've also released the Alchemy logo into the public domain.
The first and second year's effigies, designed and created by Keith Prossick, were a 3D representation of these stacked symbols, with each shape painted the appropriate color to match the element it represented.
Burn Themes
Every year the members of the community submit ideas for a burn theme. Past year’s themes have included Mutagenesis, Tabula Rasa, Amalgamation, and Portals.
ABOUT FLASHPOINT ARTISTS INITIATIVE
Flashpoint Artists Initiative is a community run non-profit that runs the events Alchemy and Euphoria and supports the arts in the Southeast.
Our mission to create spaces for the expression of art — be it through developing classes for novices, putting on events to showcase the work of experienced artisans, or financially supporting arts in the local communities where we participate.
We coordinate closely with our communities and seek to be a positive influence that cultivates and promotes artistic expression.
FAI is run by a community-elected Board of Directors serving two-year terms each. They can be contacted at board@flashpointart.org with any questions or feedback.