The Lepidodgera was born as a Camp Dematerial project. This piece was originally conceived by Rachael Norman, Mike Thielvoldt and Jake Haskell. Shortly thereafter, Lira Filippini joined the team as a core member, completing the dynamic fourk that had the stench of the project permanently infused into their pores.
Every member of the Dematerial camp contributed a part of the necessary funding for the project in 2007, and many gave helping hands to the construction and deconstruction of the Lepidodgera in its first year on the playa.
For 2008, Mike and Lira have worked for months to redesign, rebuild, and present the lovely Lepidodgera to anyone in the world who is interested in innovative art and engineering.
Mike is our lead engineer. He has his masters in mechanical engineering from Stanford and is now consulting. His passion is thermodynamics. He thinks art is most interesting when it involves heat transfer. Mike is responsible for the butterfly concept, the structural design of the piece and the gasifier design. As the lead engineer, Mike has taken extreme precaution to ensure structural and gasifier safety . On project workdays Mike divides his time between engineering, fabricating, and instructing any helping hands in proper tool use and shop safety.
Lira graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a degree in sociology. She now works as a muralist and interior designer when not welding or playing. Although all artistic mediums are of interest to her, steel takes the immediate precedence as the Lepidodgera slowly blossoms. Lira is our aesthetic coordinator and works with Mike on design, fabrication, instillation, and shares project management responsibilities. On work days, she divides her time between working, working, some other stuff, and working.
Joey D., fabricator, worked as stagehand in New York for over 8 years. Lighting, sound, pyro, rigging – Joe can do it all. Usually he only likes building things that go fast and make lots of noise – but he decided this project was cool enough to work on. This is the man we call when we’re in a crunch and need the nearly impossible to happen overnight.