Friday, January 27, 2017

Art Shanty Project

Way back in 2010, the year I started the blog, I posted this envelope. It was a response to a call for mail art. Some local artists had an idea to start another winter event. Of course, I had to participate. I have so many fond memories of the St. Paul Winter Carnival from my childhood.

I was curious if this group still had a mail art exhibit and went to their site:

http://www.artshantyprojects.org/

I did not see a mail art project this year. However, they now have snow blower ballet which seems like a really good idea. The winter festivals seem to be doing very well in the Twin Cities. 

http://icecastles.com/stillwater/

2 comments:

  1. DK aka BHB: Remember the vulcans? https://www.wintercarnival.com/legend/the-fire-king-and-his-vulcan-krewe/
    To non-brother readers....vulcans were a group of men who would ride around on an old fire engine and grab women and put a black V on their forehead. It seemed like a very NOT-OK thing to be doing any more and I was wondering if that part of the festival was even allowed any more. They are still out and about, but they now put the black V on men as well. The point of the whole zany activity is that King Boreus (the snow king) is fighting with Vulcan (hot guy). For a couple weeks, Boreus wins and runs the show, but at the end of the festival, Vulcan wins a theatrical battle which means warm weather is on the way. I will leave it to others to research whether or not this is from some really old myth or if the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce just came up with it to get people out of the house during hibernation season.

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    1. I just had a chuckle about Des Moines, my home for the past 4 decades. Do we have a festival. Why yes we do. It is the 80/35 festival. We celebrate that we are at the intersection of Interstate 80 and Interstate 35. Nothing more exciting than being at an intersection, eh? Even worse, the next biggest festival is the Bacon Festival.

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