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Photo by Robb Long
Land ho! The creative team behind the Nemo Shanty — also known as the U.S.S. Walter Mondale — explore the frozen waters of Medicine Lake.
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Phenomenal absurdity: Art Shanty Projects return to Medicine Lake
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By Dylan Thomas
Watch a video about this story Cold weather hardiness is a virtue in this state.
Many Minnesotans also take pride in their patronage of the arts, which makes a visit to the 2009 Art Shanty Projects a kind of two-birds-with-one-stone opportunity for proving your North Star State bona fides.
Arrive at Medicine Lake in Plymouth on cross-country skis or snowshoes — or at least in a vehicle bearing critical habitat license plates — and you score 100 percent on your Minnesota citizenship test.
The ambient air temperature at Medicine Lake (just a 15-minute drive from Uptown) was around -2 degrees Fahrenheit the morning of Jan. 24. Factor in the wind whipping across its frozen surface and it pretty much felt like a million below.
(If you can't make it to Medicine Lake before Art Shanty Projects closes Feb. 14 but still want to share the experience by proxy, stick your head in a bag of ice cubes. Then go to www.swjournal.com and watch a video shot on the lake in January. You'll feel like you're there.)
Despite the ice-pick-to-the-face effect of the wind chill, it was nice and toasty inside Le Depanneur de la Front de Liberation Quebecois, an ice shanty assembled by Lyndale neighborhood's Art of This Gallery. No heating element was required; the well-insulated shack was kept plenty warm by the sunshine pouring in the windows.
Art of This members Daniel Palahniuk and David Peterson were keeping their energy up by munching on some ketchup-flavored potato chips, a favorite snack north of the border.
Another Canadian treat, poutine — French fries and cheese curds slathered with white gravy — was set to hit the buffet table at 1 p.m., just around 90 minutes from then.
Consider it Method acting, not mindless snacking. Palahniuk and Peterson were playing the part of French-Canadian separatists running a convenience store somewhere in frozen Quebec, an act Peterson said combined "political theater, absurdist mercantilism and high-cholesterol foods."
Yum.
It's high concept delivered with a tongue between the molars. Peterson compared the Quebec separatists' dreamed-of independent state to Medicine Lake's "autonomous shanty town, separate from any local municipality."
"We're on land that doesn't really exist for more than three months of the year," he said.
True. But as for autonomy, well, we'll see what the city of Plymouth has to say about that.
Art Shanty Projects is in its sixth year on Medicine Lake and continues to draw weekend crowds even in the midst of what natives like to call "a real Minnesota winter."
As usual, there are a number of artists who live and work in Southwest out on the frozen water. The location, about 10 highway miles from Lake Calhoun, makes it a convenient outing for Southwest residents fighting cabin fever.
The Heigles, a family of four from New Hope, had an even shorter drive. Cindy and Greg Heigle bundled up their boys Peter and Jacob and spent the morning going from shanty to shanty.
"Last week, we were up at Lake of the Woods ice fishing, and so we thought why not check out some other ice fishing?" Greg Heigle said.
(In case you were wondering: Yes, some ice fishing does go on every year, although it takes a back seat to the art making, generally.)
In true Minnesota fashion, Greg Heigle described the temperature as "not too bad."
"That's why you buy the gear," he said, his chuckle muffled by the fleece scarf wrapped around his face. "Use it."
That's good advice. Visitors need to dress in layers if they plan to spend much time on the ice.
There's plenty to see this year. A Paper Shanty is ingeniously insulated with cardboard. One of the most creative constructions is the U.S.S. Walter Mondale, a shanty in the shape of a nuclear submarine breaching the ice.
Bring a swimsuit and climb into Sweat & Drink, Inc., a fully functional sauna shanty whose operators also use their oven to distill potable water from snow. Take in a show at the Black Box Theater Shanty, which hosts live music and performances every weekend. (The theater's maximum capacity is limited by the number of people wearing bulky, down-filled winter coats.)
The Third Level must be among the tallest ice-fishing structures ever built, and offers a wonderful perch to take in the full scope of art shanty activities.
Peter Sowinski was on the team of artists who built a two-story shack last winter and invited anglers to drop in a line from the top. When they realized how much visitors simply enjoyed being high up, they expanded to three stories and added an observation deck this year.
A three-year veteran of the Art Shanty Projects, Sowinski said there's nothing quite like January on Medicine Lake.
"It's a pretty phenomenal community of people," he said. "And the absurdity of the entire scenario … you just can't get anything else like it in the Cities."
There's a lot more to see and, really, the cold is bearable. Take it from Brittny Burton, a San Diego native who moved here to attend Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD).
"It's a little different from the beach but still good," Burton said as she and two MCAD classmates huddled in The Third Level. "The shanties are warm." Go see it
The Art Shanty Projects run through Feb. 14 on Medicine Lake in Plymouth. Shacks are open on weekends, with limited additional events scheduled on Wednesday and Friday nights. For a listing of artists and art shanties, calendar of events and directions, visit www.artshantyprojects.org.
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Art beat // Closing and opening
By Dylan Thomas
Art of This leaving current space, but won’t cease to existLYNDALE — A few weeks before they planned to shutter their Nicollet Avenue art space for good, John Marks and David Petersen of Art of This Gallery reflected on “Open Summer,” their ongoing, open door, last blast summer project. A free-for-all residency program that eventually enrolled 80-some artists, the slowly percolating “Open Summer” was building steam as it headed into its, and the gallery’s, grand finale at the end of August. And for all the potential pitfalls in telling some seven dozen people where the gallery key is hidden, about the worst thing that happened all summer was when someone spilled salsa in the refrigerator and never cleaned it up.
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On the mat // Green yogis in Linden Hills
By Sarah McKenzie
Devanadi Yoga, a new studio near Lake Harriet, is a trailblazer in the local yoga community. The small 525-square-foot studio, tucked behind the Bruley Center on West 43rd Street in Linden Hills, is the first yoga studio in the state to be certified by the Green Yoga Association for its environmentally friendly efforts. The studio’s green practices include using non-VOC paint, controlling the thermostat to keep the building energy efficient and encouraging students to walk, bus or bike to class. Tanya Boigenzahn Sowards, studio director/owner of Devanadi Yoga, said being green is “core value of the studio and it ties back to the yogic philosophy of doing no harm.” “Minneapolis frequently ranks as one of the top green
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Everyday gardener // Q&A
By Meleah Maynard
Struggling tomatoes, rain barrels and rootbound plantsEven though spring started in earnest in March this year, it still seems like summer is going by too fast. So, fast, in fact, my inbox has been a bit stuffed with questions. As always, I’ve replied directly to people who asked for help with various things. But here in the column I’m going to cover some of the questions that seem likely to be of interest to a lot of gardeners. By far, the questions I’m getting most are about tomatoes, so I’ll start there. Q: My tomato plants look good and have a lot of flowers, but I’m not getting a lot of fruit this year. What’s going on?A: It’s been too hot for tomatoes to set fruit
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Flavor // A smokin’ sensation on Nicollet
By Carla Waldemar
If you’re wondering what caused the traffic stand-still on South Nicollet the other evening, let’s just say I should have kept my window shut. When passing cars got a whiff of possibly the best aroma in the galaxy — I’m talking about barbecue, of course — they halted to demand, “Where’d you get that?” At C&G’s, of course. Greg Alford launched C&G’s Smoking Barbecue exactly a year ago; the anniversary balloons in the otherwise-Spartan, clean-as-a-whistle hole in the wall provided the only touch of whimsy in this serious business. Greg was born in Louisiana, which may explain his superior taste in food. He grew up in Detroit, one of 12 kids whose mamma set him to cooking when he was 5, he
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Wild city // Eating the yard
By Mary Jean Port
I love August. It is so lush. All summer, as I nurse the garden along, I anticipate these eating days. We now have too much of everything: tomatoes, green beans, heat, humidity, and also thunder, for those of us who have a dog frightened by it. I have been working our piece of ground for 14 years, and have good soil to show for it. Back when we first started, my husband was more of a lawn guy. He liked the idea of a garden, but drew a line in the grass with his toe. Don’t dig up anything beyond here, he said. So I dug my first of what are now 10 beds, and planted the pumpkin right on his line. The vines ran out of the garden and took over the whole backyard. My husband good-naturedly threw up his hands. We started with vegetables, and
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Kid rock
By Sam Lane
Twin Town Guitars hosts a camp that gives young musicians a chance to play and perform in a bandMore than 60 excited, camera-toting fans packed Cause Spirits and Soundbar on a warm August afternoon waiting for two headline bands to take the stage. The hotly anticipated musicians weren’t well known. They weren’t 20-somethings trying to strike a record deal. They weren’t middle-aged men trying to relive their youth. They were kids, ages 8–17, who spent prior weeks at Twin Town Guitars, 3400 Lyndale Ave. S., preparing for their first concert. In an economy where budget cuts deal constant blows to public school music programs, the owners of Twin Town have spent the last three summers providing a haven for aspiring
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