Periods of Sunshine
Winters in Minnesota can feel like they are dragging on and on endlessly. Residents here are faced with a choice. Hide and hibernate indoors until the Spring thaw, or face the elements and triumphantly overcome them. Sometimes with the element of surprise. Who expects such a riot of color and creativity on a frozen lake? But that’s what the Art Shanty Projects are all about. Well, that’s my take on it. Their mission statement is:
Art Shanty Projects is an artist driven temporary community exploring the ways in which the relatively unregulated public space of the frozen lake can be used as a new and challenging artistic environment to expand notions of what art can be.
Over the last several years the ASP has helped me look forward to January and February rather than dreading these cold, dead months. Admittedly we did luck out with extremely mild weather for this year’s opening weekend, but we would have made the trek anyhow. And you should too. Head to Plymouth’s Medicine Lake, weekends from January 16th – February 7th.
