Shrine

Shrine has been a guerrilla folk artist for over twenty years. His paintings and found object/trash sculptures, displaying an accessible and familiar aesthetic, have been featured at numerous galleries and events, and his guerrilla murals dot the Los Angeles cityscape, with other pieces in Edinburgh, London, Chicago, and Portugal, to name just a few spots. He has collaborated, both as a visual artist and performer, with Lucent Dossier and the Do Lab, Vau de Vire Society, and the national and world tours of Panic at the Disco! and Warp Tour. He lives at his home in Pasadena, which is in itself a testament to his love for making beautiful art from trash—although it probably does nothing for his neighbors’ property value.

TukTuk

Writer, craftsman, builder, networker, and project manager Tucker Teutsch 3.0 tends always to think on a grand scale. After teaming up with his old pal Shrine for last year’s Tasseograph: Trash Tea Temple, he swore he’d never do it again. And yet he has a certain reputation for getting things done and has honed his skill as a natural team leader—both as logistics consultant for outdoor festivals and as lead organizer for various theme camps and art installations over the years. People often lose their ability to tell him no, which makes him good at this job. He has a production company in Portland, Ore., and lives there happily with a dog named Raven.

The Basura Sagrada Collaboratory

Obviously, the temple project must rely on a large pool of skilled and volunteer labor to bring it to fruition. We cannot underestimate how lucky we are to count so many skilled metal workers, carpenters, designers, engineers, visionaries, roustabouts, climbers, cooks, and—most of all!—unemployed (and unemployable) creative types amongst our close friends. Our dedicated crew from the Tasseograph has agreed to return, and we will be calling many more to help us in this newest endeavor. Amazingly, many are already stepping forward and we expect more to come out of the woodwork as this project progresses, supplying us not only with willing labor but with empathic temple guardians. Perhaps you can find a way to join us, as well. After all, this is a collaboration.