Dan Das Mann called me from his 40-foot school bus, on his way to the Black Rock desert, the location of the annual pilgrimage known as Burning Man - the art event of radical self-expression that this local artist approaches in earnest.

This participatory community waiting for him on what is known as "the playa," can grow to nearly 50,000 citizens. It's also what Das Man, co-founder of Big Art Studios of Oakland, calls his art school. For 2010's "Metropolis" theme, he and his partner Karen Cusolito have fantasy in mind.