Art Shanty Edition by Tema Stauffer

Due to severe flu conditions at 20x200 World HQ (ie: my couch), typing a coherent newsletter yesterday was deemed impossible. I'm slightly more with it today, but advance blame for typos and imprecise language goes to Nyquil. This week's photography edition comes to us from 20x200 artist Tema Stauffer and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the super-cool Art Shanty Projects.

White Ice is printed with archival inks on a substantial 100% cotton rag paper with a luster finish. As always, the edition is available in three sizes:

8.5"x11"
Edition of 200 $20/each

17"x22"
Edition of 20 $200/each

30"x40"
Edition of 2 $2000/each

The fifth season of Art Shanty Projects opens this Saturday on Medicine Lake in frosty (2°F!) Plymouth , MN. Peter Haakon Thompson, the founder of this wintry art extravaganza, was my Minneapolis host and tour-guide when I visited just before Christmas.

Everywhere we went, people were talking about their Shanty preparations. There was much speculation about the thickness of the ice, chatter about building materials and heated discussions about propane. At an art event we attended I had a long conversation about the potential benefits of baked potatoes, both as heat source and sustenance. By the end of my weekend, I was contemplating sleeping bag snowsuits, justifying the purchase of mukluks and planning a mid-February trip so I could have the Art Shanty Experience firsthand.

The Shanties engage in arty ideas in disarmingly unpretentious ways - interacting with the environment is inevitable, and its novelty engages all kinds of people in art. The community it fosters is vibrant and active, just at a time when creatures are supposed to be crawling into their caves and hibernating. It's art for everyone (you know I'm a fan!) in a public realm.

Today's edition is a trophy of Tema's from the 2005 season of Art Shanty Projects*, which I exhibited at one of the gallery's Pin-Up Shows later that same year. After the show, the print got tucked away in a flat file, but it's a photo I've thought of often, which is pretty unusual for me - I sift through loads of images all the time, which doesn't give any specific one much opportunity to take hold. This picture did though; it's oddness, color and geometry lodged in my memory.

And now, my friends, I bid you adieu till next week. The clock is ticking down to my next Nyquil dose and the cozy couch beckons.

*The 2008 Art Shanty Projects' Flickr stream has more respresentational photos of this year's shanties, and here's a clip of some Art Shanty shenanigans.

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