Below are a few of the last images, including a video of our shanty being blessed by the sun in a Lithuanian ancient rune blessing!

At five o'clock yesterday, the Art Shanty Projects ended with a group dance mob session near the Audio-Visual Shanty - a large pyramidal shanty next to our own 30 Star Shanty.

It was a fun month-long time on the ice, and we had a great opportunity to talk to a great many different people about our school, our mission, our students, and the pioneers. People really seemed to love the smell of our shanty - it had a large, full-sized wood stove constantly burning cedar and pine - but also the work that our students put into the project. We are so proud of the work that they have done.

This past weekend, we constructed yarn dolls and finished the last remaining quilt squares. We will begin sewing the squares together this week, and we hope to be done with the quilt in two to three weeks time. When we are done with the quilt, we will take the names in the raffle book (a list of all of the people who contributed to the quilt) and select one person to receive the finished product. So far, the quilt looks great and we're excited to see it all put together!

Already, the shanty has been cleaned out, and we are hoping to get the last remaining structural pieces off the ice on Thursday. But the shanty may rise again with another project called "Northern Spark." We will update on that soon - as some deadlines are tomorrow!

We will include some final pictures and a video of our shanty being blessed soon!

Thanks to all of those who participated, supported, and created the 30 Star Shanty - it was amazing because of you all!

It is hard to believe that it is already the last weekend of the Art Shanty Projects for 2012! But that it is - so make sure that you have a chance to get there and see the wonderful projects on the ice.

We have had a chance to talk to so many people over the past three weekends and share our students' work, our school's mission, and share information about life in the pioneer days as well as in an alternative school classroom. We are all very thankful for the chance to bring the students out onto the ice and expose them to this unique and ephemeral place.

Last Sunday, on "All Things Considered," Art Shanty Projects was highlighted nationally for its unique charm and goals. While the "30 Stars Shanty" was not highlighted (though we were initially interviewed), we did get a photo on the main transcript page for the article. It was exciting for us all to see SALT and our work posted so publicly. Wonderful!

If you would like to listen to article and see our shanty on the NPR article page, please follow here.

If you would like to hear the article streaming without leaving, listen below.

Winter is short, though it may sometimes feel long, and the Projects is even shorter! Come and show your support for SALT High School and the local arts community.

Hope to see you on the ice!


NPR Article: "Minnesota Festival On Ice Melts Art's Boundaries," by Deena Prichep (Jan 29, 2012)

We have been having a great time out on the ice. While the setup was a bit stressful, we finished and have been only improving it slowly over time!

Students have been out with us helping do the art and craft projects that they studied throughout the quarter. So far, we have about 40 quilt squares for our community quilt and gave out about 100 pine cone bird feeders. Our shanty has also been one of the warmest - due to our enormous wood stove - and has been warm enough to sit around in a t-shirt with the door open.

Come out and visit us this weekend and help us make quilt squares and pin dolls. Say "hi" to us and then peruse the other shanties. It'll be a lovely weekend I'm sure!

See you on the ice!

Hello!

Our 30 Star Shanty is up and the Art Shanty Project has ensued!

Jen and Andrew and a group of students went out on the ice with the shanty pieces we had been constructing all quarter. It was a heavy ordeal, but thankfully the shanty locations are closer than they have been in the past. It was also a cool day compared to the previous weather conditions. There were a few hiccups in the assembly, and so it did take longer than expected.

On Saturday morning, the official start date, we were still scrambling with a student to get the last things hung and in order. Thankfully it was a warm and beautiful day, and so a fire was not necessary. It was great to see all of the people and all of the great projects surrounding us. It is very family friendly this year!

Sunday was a student-free day, as no students signed up to work. But it was a great time to finish last remaining projects in the shanty, which is looking quite good now. After a quick tarping of the shanty roof, it should be fairly weather-proof and ready for our overnight on Friday. We have two students who will be spending the night in the shanty. It should be great!

If you are interested in coming out or helping let us know!

For more information regarding directions and events go to: http://www.artshantyprojects.org/

Right before Thanksgiving break, the students and teachers all went to the Minnesota Book Arts Center. We learned how to bind books with needle, thread, and book tape.

The books will be used for the students' cookbook, journal, and artifact projects that will be in the shanty throughout January.

Yesterday the class went to The Landing (formerly Murphy's Landing) in Shakopee, MN to look for inspiration for our shanty project. If you want to see what they are and where they are, check out there website: http://www.threeriversparks.org/parks/the-landing.aspx.

We were able to see how log cabins were used for a good part of early Minnesota history, with European settlers. First, the fur trading French-Canadians built small logged tamarack homes as trading posts. Then, as the Germans and other immigrant groups came post-purchase, they brought animals and people that could help them use bigger and heavier logs. The homes were cold! Even the wood burning stoves they had barely heated the room up - hopefully ours is better.

We also saw how they would decorate the inside of the log cabins to make them more homey and comfortable. Some of the homes were nice on the inside, despite being pretty basic and ugly, really.

Today we are starting the official redesign of the Art Shanty project! We will be remaking and supporting the base pieces, making it more stable for our other wall pieces to rest on. Two years ago, we had trouble putting the pieces together on the ice.

(We also visited the Minnesota Book Arts Center in Minneapolis, MN. More on that and photos are to come!)

Over the last two days, the students have been working hard to get the old shanty pieces cleaned up, organized, and taken apart. We are hoping to use the existing shanty structure, but change the outside and inside appearances.

We have been knee deep in insulation, staples, plastic, and old screws and nails! We even found a dead (dried out) mouse that had found a new home/tomb in the shanty. Sorry, buddy!

With the deconstruction nearly complete, we are about ready to start the re-construction and new finish work on this year's shanty. The students have also started their pioneer study projects and are excited about them.

Check out some photos of the deconstruction project!

Last night was the first, official Art Shanty gathering, in which we got information and contracts for the Art Shanty project this year!

Students are underway and will be taking over the reigns of the blog pretty soon! Students are doing seminars each week, as well as working on museum-like projects for the shanty. We moved our shanty pieces as a group yesterday into our new work space, which is a donated space from the St. Vincent DePaul folks next door. It was extremely generous of them to give us that space and we are VERY grateful for it.

Today we started getting into the thick of our project, with some introductions to frontier life and safety talks. (Fingers were rolling...)

We are very excited to get pictures up soon and show off our project. It sounds like we might be the only school group out there on the ice this year, which is a big honor.

Until next time!

We just received confirmation that our Art Shanty project, "30 Stars Shanty," was accepted for the 2012 project year!

We are excited to begin the final planning stages before our second quarter begins next week. Jen Goepfert and Andrew Arlt will be the co-leaders for the project this year, working with about 20 students to complete the project before it goes on the ice in January.

For an idea of what this year's project will look like, check out our proposal (.doc)! If you would like to see our past project, check out our 2010 blog!

More information to come soon!