South Lake Tahoe artist's "Creu Hudol" heads to Burning Man Pavilion

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Many know Kelly Smith Cassidy as an artist who creates copper and bronze welded sculptures, but now many more will know her as the artist who created a burnbot for Burning Man.

Kelly, who is a seasoned "burner," heard from another that Burning Man had put out a request for proposals for panels and burnbots for the Man Pavilion, all which will be burned in a symbolic ritual on the final day of the popular event on Nevada's Black Rock Desert.

She received rejection notices on the panels, but they accepted her idea for Creu Hudol, a female robot effigy, and she had just 44 days to put her idea on paper into a six-foot wooden statue.

The robot Creu Hudol got her name from the Welsh words for "Magical Being."

In the last 44 days Kelly has cut wood, cleaned off the bark, sanded, chiseled, sculpted and sanded some more. With the help of friends, including Marianne Rosenfeld, Ellen Flynn and segmented wood turner Malcolm Tibbetts, Creu Hudol leapt from the artist pad to being transported to Burning Man to stand in honor on a prominent spot next to "The Man."

"Burning Man took a chance on me, I had never done anything for them," said Kelly. They gave her a $1,000 grant to help with supplies (she estimated she spent almost $2,000).

Having never done wood sculpture before, Kelly researched everything from carving the legs to applying the crystal along the joints of the body.

"I'm good at building things up in clay," she explained. "Carving away is hard to conceptualize."

Kelly also said she grew to have a great appreciation for the human body during the process, how each part moves and connects. She used her artist friend Ellen Flynn as the model for the robot due to her long legs and almost six-foot height. The finished robot has Ellen's exact shoulder and hip width, arm length and height.

Marianne and Kelly spent the last week before the beginning of Burning Man getting Creu from a bunch of wooden pieces into a work of art. Marianne owns Forest Furniture and had a variety of the needed wood working tools in her home studio. Once connected they sanded, painted and applied crystals.

They also had to add an "Easter Egg" element, a hidden surprise. This won't be revealed at this time so burners can visit the robot and find it. She'll be loaded up in the car Friday for the trip to Red Rock and installation Saturday.

Kelly said one of the main things she learned during the process was to "be brave" and "go for it."

For more photos and information on Creu Hudol, visit https://www.creuhudol.com/.