Ice Shanties as Public Art
They’re at it again.
After a successful inaugural run last winter, Artful Ice Shanties is making a return. Sponsored by the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center and Retreat Farm, this outdoor exhibition is a “place-based celebration of artistic talent, creative ingenuity, and the rich history of ice fishing at the Retreat Meadows.” The Artful Ice Shanties will be displayed in and around Farmhouse Square at Retreat Farm in Brattleboro, Vermont from Saturday, Feb. 19 through Sunday, Feb. 27.
While museums and art galleries are often sacred spaces for me, nothing pleases me more than art making a break for it, escaping its traditional hallowed halls as if it were desperate for a breath of fresh (and it this case, frigid) air. Art that shows up where you’d least expect it has the added value of surprise. Until this moment, the marriage of ice shanties and art was unexpected, and all the more delightful for it.
Not that arty shanties are entirely new. The Vermont version took its inspiration from Minnesota’s Art Shanty Projects which began in 2004 and continued more or less annually on one or another of Minnesota’s Twin Cities area lakes, gathering tens of thousands of visitors at last count. Inspired by pop-up ice fishing villages, artists use the frozen lake as a canvas, dotting it with reimagined shanties and community events. (And no, they do not actually fish in the shanties. To quote them, “ . . . You’d need a license for that!”)
Back in Vermont, last year’s Artful Ice Shanties exhibition drew 1000 visitors. They viewed ice shanties shaped like a giant iridescent fish, a black die with moon-shaped dots, a seascape with a three-dimensional octopus, and more. Participants hiked, cross-country skied and snowshoed on the Retreat Farm, visited farm animals including Carlos the ox, and skated on the Retreat Meadows.
It’s only about three weeks from now and one hour away. Artful Ice Shanties—what could be more improbably artful, more perfectly Vermont in winter?
(Photo, top, Craig Roach (in collaboration with Peter Poanessa of Signworx), “Icy Hue” from 2021’s Artful Ice Shanties. Photo credit: Michelle Frehsee)
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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word.