The Wake

Ice fishing: the sport of catching fish with hooks and lines through an opening in the ice. To some, yes. To others “ice fishing” means gathering on a frozen lake in January to participate in the annual Art Shanty Projects. Over 30 artists and artist teams helped create this unique public art exhibition on Medicine Lake this winter.

The Art Shanty Projects, presented by the Soap Factory and funded in part by the McKnight Foundation, is an eclectic collection of works described as “part art gallery, part residency, and part sculpture park.” It’s hard to believe that what began in 2004 as a single shanty, conceived and erected by photographer Peter Haaken Thompson as a frigid retreat for artistic inspiration and contemplation, has now grown into a living, breathing, communal celebration of fashion, zombies, robots, knitting, karaoke and as many bizarre shacks and structures as you can handle.

David Pitman, installation manager at the Soap Factory, saw potential in Haaken Thompson’s vision, and in 2005 helped to commission around 40 artists who embellished Medicine Lake with an array of structures. This included towering ladders ascending from the ice, an illuminated cubic construction of frozen, peeled water balloons and a plywood yoga shack. Last year’s success provided the springboard for this year’s exhibition, the Art Shanty Projects’ third incarnation. Several artists from last year are making an encore appearance, alongside a comparable number of new faces.

Among the oddities at the 2006 exhibition is Michael Hoyt’s Norae Shanty, inspired by the Korean karaoke tradition known as “Norae bangs.” Crooning patrons’ off-key renditions of Chumbawumba and Devo are broadcast on the Art Shanty Projects’ own lake-based, low-frequency radio station, K-ICE (97.7 fm), which can be just barely tuned into by those within the lake’s vicinity. On the opposite end of the community, Matt Zaun and Sean Connaughty create a very different soundscape with their snow dome style shanty, which is fully equipped as an underwater ambient recording studio.

Visitors peer through 3/8-inch holes in the side of one shanty, pressing their cold noses against the structure’s exterior walls in an attempt to view the tiny and imaginative worlds inside of Peepshow on Ice, a collaborative gallery from Jake Nassif, Matthew Nelson, Witt Siasoco, Felix Cormerant and Scott Christy. A crowd gathered around as Jesse Hemminger and Bruce Shapiro’s Robot Ice Carver revved up to etch custom shapes into the surface of the lake. Anyone feeling a bit chilly heads to Jane Powers and Monica Sheets’ translucent, bubble wrapped Rendezvous Cafe, where hot drinks and snacks were served in exchange for stories about fishing and the lakes of Minnesota.

Among the various domes, the plywood boxes and a colorfully collaged collaboration from Armstrong High School, Haaken Thompson’s original Art Shanty from year one made its cameo appearance, functioning as a souvenir shop where patrons can snag a $15 official Art Shanty T-shirt “for warm January temps.”

This year’s exhibition also has several curious event offerings, including a performance by Live Action Set titled “Zombies on Ice,” Scrabble, knitting classes, lake tours by Team Lake Research, drive-in movies and a trading day where art and fish can be traded.

Haaken Thompson and Pitman were both intrigued by Medicine Lake’s public art potential, since they felt that it was a place where artistic communication could occur with individuals that may be turned off by a traditional gallery environment. Haaken Thompson comments that the project is also a great excuse for artists and art enthusiasts to breach the gallery walls, creating and experiencing art on some very alien terrain.

The limitations that the artists face in this frozen space are entirely dependent on the environment and common sense. This year’s exhibition hugs the shore because of adverse ice conditions. Several artists speak longingly about eventually moving their constructions to the center of the lake if the weather permits.

Judging by the throngs of opening-day spectators (some intrigued, some perplexed) and the line of cars anxiously awaiting a spot in the modest lake-front parking lot, word has certainly spread about this oh-so-Minnesotan take on public art space.

Art Shanty Projects is open daily and runs through Feb. 19. For a schedule of weekend events, visit .