"OMG! It's raining cat's and dog's!"

Our third weekend has come and gone already. We are getting ready for our final weekend on the ice. We have been having a great time. The second weekend brought us a huge surprise--rain! We showed up on Saturday to find a few inches of water sitting on top of the ice. We had to wade out through the lake to get to our shanty, which was leaking! We had to do some quick repair, as did many other shanty owners. That didn't stop visitors from stopping by and writing on the wet chalkboard walls! The third weekend was bitter cold but we had tons of visitors stop by. New pictures posted at right of our students playing on the ice and of our shanty. Enjoy!

Opening Day a Success

Our opening weekend was a hit. We had a great time out on the ice. Several students came out to post questions on the chalkboard and interact with visitors. Thanks to everyone who visited. We can't wait to get back out there the next few weekends. (For more opening day pics, see sidebar link).

Installation Photos Posted

New photos of the installation posted on flickr. Check out the link on the sidebar.

Opening Day

Well, the shanty is installed. It is not completely finished. There are a few panels that I painted last night with metallic paint for our magnets that have yet to dry and be hung. Outside of that, it is up and ready. The kids and Andrew worked hard the last few days to get the shanty put together, and my boss, Aaron and I were out there this morning finishing up some minor details (Thanks Aaron!). I am impressed with the group of kids that stayed late both Thursday and Friday, working in the cold, to get the job done. Installation photos will be posted soon.

Thanks to everyone who called or emailed to volunteer materials and show support over the last few days. Our missing materials caused quite a headache but the outpouring of support really helped our spirits. We thank you.

It is go-time. I am waiting for students at the school and when they arrive we will be off and running. We are excited to be opening in an hour and look forward to seeing everyone out there!

Installation tomorrow!

Students in the Creative Writing class finished the magnetic poetry set yesterday. They also wrote questions to be posted on the chalkboard on the outside of the structure. I was very impressed with some of the thought-provoking questions the students whipped up (If you could say anything in the world to your boss, what would it be? If you could go back to high school, what would you do differently?)

As for the structure, Andrew has been in every morning at 5am finishing up the structure and students in his Eco-Arts class are working hard to get this shanty done. Insulation is in and the walls and floor are nearly complete.

Students have signed up for two 3-hour shifts each and it looks like we will have the shanty staffed with students for the whole project. I am so proud of each and every one of them.

We will be moving out onto the ice after school tomorrow with the help of a few student volunteers. Wish us luck!

Setback!

With the opening weekend of the Art Shanty Projects right around the corner, we are scrambling to get the structure finished up. It is a challenge in part because we only see our students for 55 minutes a day. Andrew works feverishly during that time to get through an enormous task list. He has also put in countless weeknight and weekend hours to get the shanty done.

So it was devastating on Sunday when Andrew walked into the Soap Factory and found our building space violated. All of our remaining building materials, (including a wall!) had been taken and our designated building spot had become a garbage dump. We have been doing most of our building at school and so we were not utilizing our building space at the Soap Factory for much more than storage. I can see how someone would have believed our materials were abandoned and decided to help themselves. But still, it is disappointing.

Andrew made a quick recovery though after he realized how far behind we already are. He spent all of Sunday replacing missing materials and rebuilding the wall on his own. Thanks Andrew!

We are back on schedule thanks to his tireless work. It was a setback and incredibly disappointing and frustrating but we still anticipating being out on the ice for opening weekend.

Wish us luck!

Construction Pictures

The students in action

We begin

Last year, on a sunny winter Saturday, Andrew Arlt (Science teacher) and I (Jen Goepfert, English teacher) took a small group of students out to Medicine Lake in Plymouth to visit the Art Shanty Projects. The students absolutely loved the shanties. As they ran (or shuffle/skated) from shanty to shanty, making banjos out of cracker boxes and creating post cards to mail from the post office on ice, Andrew and I looked at each other and said, "We could totally have our students make one of these." And so this year, thanks to tireless effort and energy on Andrew's part and immense student involvement, we are preparing to install our own art shanty out on the ice next weekend.

Students in Andrew's Eco-Arts class have been working over the last few weeks to construct an eco-friendly building that uses at least 85% recycled or reused materials. The outside of the cube will be covered in chalk board walls, which will serve as passive solar heating for the structure, and will also be a vehicle for community conversation. Students will post questions for visitors to answer in an effort to create a public space for diverse voices on thought-provoking questions.

Inside, the cube will contain magnetic walls where visitors can interact with a magnetic poetry set that the students in my creative writing class have been working on. Our hope is that we will bring a unique voice to the ice this year--that of the urban alternative student. We plan to staff our shanty with students from both classes throughout the installment.

So far, the students have been having a great time getting ready for the project. With only one more week to go, we are scrambling a bit, but I have faith in our students and in Andrew, to pull the shanty together and to bring a unique experience to art shanty goers this year.

Hope to see you out there!