The Artists Behind Naga & The Captainess: A Burning Man 2024 Highlight

There’s one part of Burning Man that is universally understood – the art installations featured are some of the most incredible in the world. This year, my favorite piece is Naga And The Captainess (Naga), a magnificent 150-foot interactive art installation that blends impeccable craftsmanship with captivating storytelling.

Currently being built, this sprawling beauty is designed by three wonderfully talented, local female artists.  It’ll be crafted with every detail imaginable and the story behind the piece feels like a dream when recounted.

Naga And The Captainess rendering

Imagine a life-size shipwreck you can fully explore with a gorgeous metal serpent looking upon the buried treasure floating in the sea around the wreckage. This piece asked you to be curious and to ask yourself: “What has happened here? Has the serpent sunk the ship? Or is he looking for someone or something to save? What can we learn about the enigmatic captain from her quarters?”.

Co-Creator Cjay Roughgarden tells me about the project’s origin: “A few years ago I was going through some childhood things and found my favorite book, Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent. In the book, Cyrus is an aimless loser who ends up becoming a hero by rescuing a ship of poor people on a dangerous ocean journey. I loved this idea of something we expect is a monster might actually be there to help.  That a dangerous creature could be a protector. I went to my two dearest lady builder friends and asked if they wanted to make a sunken ship to go with it. They said yes, but if it was going to be cool, it would have to be really, really big.” 

Meet The Creators of Naga And The Captainess

Naga is the vision of three exceptionally skilled artists, Stephanie Shipman, Jackie Scott, and Cjay Roughgarden, and has been chosen for a 2024 Burning Man Honorarium Award – one of only 76 projects with this honor. Along with the talented trio of leaders, they have brought together over 150 volunteers in all skill levels to create this spectacular visionary piece. On a build this epic, you need to bring together a full creative community.

Creators of Naga And The Captainess (left to right) Cjay Roughgarden, Jackie Scott and Stephanie Shipman – photo by Vita Hewitt

In my interview with the Naga creators, we talked about their individual backgrounds but also how they all got involved to begin with. I’m such a fan girl when it comes to these women. They are incredibly talented and have forged dynamic art careers.

MEET CJAY ROUGHGARDEN

Cjay is a master fabricator. She may not remember, but I first briefly met Cjay when she was selling her work at a craft show, Craneway Craft Faire, where my Dad was selling his wares down the way. There, she was selling beautifully created tabletop fireplaces. I share this because after my first interaction with Cjay I soon learned that her expertise is boundless when it comes to fabrication and she typically works on much larger pieces of art. She’s worked on several large-scale art pieces for Burning Man and public art which is dynamic and sculptural.

Cjay talking about how she got into large-scale art fabrication for Burning Man with me, “I fell into this world in the last week of the Raygun Gothic Rocketship build in 2009.  It wasn’t until 2015 that I volunteered on a build from start to end and that’s when I got hooked.  For Burning Man I’ve worked on 8 or 9 art cars, 3 huge builds, and have built 2 projects for other artists.  In my day job I’ve worked on numerous public art projects for other people. I’ve won a couple of public art grants myself and have one installed and two coming up next fall and spring.”

Artist and master fabricator, Cjay Roughgarden – photo by Vita Hewitt

MEET STEPHANIE SHIPMAN

Stephanie and I first met when I did an article about a permanent home for artists in The East Bay, Seaport Studios. Stephanie has been working in the Bay Area for over 18 years and is a master furniture maker and woodworker. She started out in set design when she was in college and expanded her woodworking skills from there, eventually working on dozens of large-scale art pieces. For Naga, Stephanie is the carpentry lead and told me that there will be one of her signature wooden mosaics in the flooring of the sunken ship.

Stephanie talking about her own origin story as an artist, “My building background is in theatre, so I sort of have been doing it since 2000. But my first Big Art build was the Raygun Gothic Rocketship as well. I’ve worked on 5 art cars and 10 big art pieces, including building the Man 2014-2016, and most recently filling the role of Lead Builder for Chapel of Babel in 2023.”

Master woodworker, furniture maker and artist, Stephanie Shipman with her pup – photo by Vita Hewitt

MEET JACKIE SCOTT

Jackie’s expertise, similar to Stephanie’s, is in set design. Her career as a production artist spans over a decade across the Bay Area for well-known places such as American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco Playhouse, Magic Theatre, Shotgun Players, and more.

In talking about her origin as an artist and how she got involved in this particular project, Jackie explains, “I work as a production designer and scenic designer for theater and film, so I am accustomed to designing and building large sets and environments. Cjay, Steph, and I all met through Five Ton Crane, an Oakland-based artist collective.  My first large-scale art project with them was Storied Haven, a large boot reminiscent of Mother Goose and “The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe”.  Since 2015 I’ve made it a mission to join the crew of a big build every other year.”

Set designer and artist, Jackie Scott – photo by Vita Hewitt

More Behind The Scenes: What does it take to Build Art At This Scale?

They say it “takes a village” but when you’re creating something this detailed and immersive, it truly does take a huge community of people. It may surprise you to learn that most art for Burning Man is self-funded. While an honorarium piece may get some funding from The Burning Man organization, most of the funding is fundraised. This is why you’ll often see many events surrounding a particular project throughout the year ahead of Burning Man.

One of the 150 volunteers painting the serpent – photo by Vita Hewitt

While this project alone involves over 150 volunteers of every skill level, Stephanie, Cjay, and Jackie are part of Five Ton Crane, a collective of highly skilled artists who are a resource that these women can call upon to help bring their visionary masterpieces to life. Who and what is Five Ton Crane? There’s a 99.9% chance you’ve seen their work but just didn’t realize it. Their Raygun ship lived on The Embarcadero for a while and members of the Oakland collective helped maintain the video screens on top of the Sales Force Tower. This collective of artists has experts in nearly every field of art from fabrication to photography and they often work on large-scale artwork together which allows them to create beautifully crafted large-scale pieces with awe-inspiring detail.

Five Ton Crane’s Raygun Gothic Rocketship – from the Five Ton Crane website

With their connection to a network of experts and so many helping hands, Naga has a strong community around it and those volunteers are invaluable. When I asked the team what the biggest challenge they face is, they didn’t talk about the work ahead being a challenge much at all – it’s finding the funds. To date, there’s already been a couple of fundraisers for Naga including their Kickstarter which has raised over $30K. I’m sure there will be more fundraising efforts. Stephanie told me just yesterday that they will need to rent a minimum of 4 flatbed trailers to bring this piece of art to its temporary home at Burning Man.

So what is the advice they’d give if someone wanted to create a large-scale piece of art like this one? Cjay says,”Get a lot of experience working on other people’s projects at first. Be prepared to pay for it or go into debt.  Solidify a lot of working relationships you can count on and expect no matter how much you prepared things will change and you’ll have to remain flexible.”

Naga And The Captainess Co-Creators (left to right) Stephanie Shipman, Jackie Scott and Cjay Roughgarden – photo by Vita Hewitt

Stephanie’s advice for those looking to work on large-scale art is: “Yes, totally agree with Cjay. Work on some other big pieces to get some experience. Notice what works, what doesn’t, hone your own skills, and solidify a core team. It’s not impossible to lead a project without all these things in place, but it just adds so much more to do before you can start building. Plus, you’ll get to have all the fun of building without the stress of responsibility!!”

Jackie shared their sentiments stating that you want to make sure you “Dive in by joining the crew of a more experienced artist at first.  It’s imperative to have hands-on training and observation of how to lead a large group of artists and volunteers.”

The Journey Ahead:

The voyage for this epic art installation is truly just beginning and everyone involved has a long way to go before it’s complete. In fact, the journey doesn’t end at Burning Man. After Burning Man, Naga, and The Captainess will need to eventually find it’s forever home. The team is exploring the different potential options as it’s being built but there is no final spot for it, yet.

Stephanie Shipman, Jackie Scott and Cjay Roughgarden inside Cjay’s studio – photo by Vita Hewitt

As for the team’s own journeys, after Naga is complete, they will continue their art careers in their respective fields and also seek opportunities for future collaboration. I myself am really looking forward to keeping up with the work that these three incredible women put out into the world. Jackie is working on the set design for my absolute favorite musical, Waitress, which is coming to SF this Fall. Stephanie will continue to teach woodworking workshops and build furniture for clients. Cjay has plans to continue on with her fabrication projects as well as the two public art pieces which debut next fall and spring.

Where to Find More Info About Naga And The Captainess

Their work on Naga is just absolutely incredible, don’t you agree? Imagine building your skill up to a level where whatever you dream up you can create? It’s really inspiring to me as an artist myself. I’m truly looking forward to seeing the work evolve as it is being built.

To Find out about preview parties for Naga and watch this beauty as it’s being created through their Instagram channels.
This Saturday, June 22nd, you can meet Cjay and learn more about Naga and the Captainess during Art Ignite, an artist showcase at The Box Shop.

Project Facebook: Naga and the Captainess
Project Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nagaandthecaptainess/naga-and-the-captainess-2024
Project IG: @naga_and_the_captainess
Stephanie Shipment IG: @andibuiltitwithmyvagina
Jackie Scott IG: @jscott117
Cjay Roughgarden: @element_26_studio
Website: fivetoncrane.org/project-item/naga-and-the-captainess/

Cjay, Jackie and Stephanie reminding us to always remember to have fun in the process! – photo by Vita Hewitt