Shanties to Sleds: A winter wonderland of Minneapolis art and resilience in the outdoors
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Two free Minneapolis art-in-the-outdoors institutions returned Saturday: Art Shanty Projects at Lake Harriet and the Art Sled Rally at Powderhorn Park.
Art Shanty Projects is a fantastical monthlong temporary art village on the frozen lake surface where the “Giant Harriet penguin” shuffles across the lake and a giant puppet polar bear roams.
In addition to the shanty structures (of a giant cat head, an alien research station and more), the arts festival is active on weekends through Feb. 8, with programming that includes Twin Cities Native Lacrosse, a kite festival, a brass band performance, a community square dance and frozen yoga.
“This is also known as a place to practice participation,” says artistic director Erin Lavelle. “All of the projects are interactive, and you are invited by the artists to do something with them.”
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Many of the festival organizers live in south Minneapolis. They say immigration enforcement in their neighborhoods has impacted planning.
“It’s definitely been hard to hold the production side of things while witnessing what’s happening,” administrative director Pamela Vázquez Torres said. “On an existential note, it adds more impact to the work we do every day.”
Lavelle said they’ve worked to reassure artists that their work matters and is meaningful.
“We still believe that no matter what, being in public space and building relationships with each other is radical and it's an act of resistance.”
The Art Sled Rally, where artists and neighbors create DIY sled contraptions, is also in south Minneapolis, on the slopes of Powderhorn Park. One of the longtime rally organizers, Mark Safford, said there will be sleds taking the shape of a spraying skunk, a tiger, a horse, an alien robot and a barrel of monkeys.
“Everybody comes with their own beautiful vision, and we celebrate the personal expression that is the guarantee of this country,” Safford says. “It is a very sustaining and positive community, and [we] really appreciate just all of the beauty that comes, at whatever level, to the slopes and down.”
Safford said there is also a tradition of sleds inspired by current events.
“When people are engaging in self-expression, the things that they gravitate to tend to be the things that are the most poignant effectors in their life. In that regard, there’s no question that the death of a neighbor may have a significant presence,” says Safford, referring to the recent shooting of Renee Macklin Good by an ICE agent a few blocks away.
“These offerings are a beautiful, genuine way to express pain and put it out there in a way that is going to be received with humor and appreciation and support.”
