I described the Art Shanty Projects to a friend of mine as an opportunity for artists to literally build a community in the middle of a frozen lake. The project describes itself as "part sculpture park, part artist residency and part social experiment." With lots of colorful performers and outlandish themes, it has a hint of the same spirit you'd find at The Burning Man Project, only it takes place on ice instead of in the desert. It's a great event for anyone who's ever dreamt of being an architect, but didn't want to be bothered with building permits, building code or other silly rules and regulations.

I trekked out to Medicine Lake for the opening day on January 17th. The temperature was around zero and there was a stiff wind, but I was prepared. I wore long underwear, rubber boots, a shirt, a vest, a thin jacket, a waterproof outer jacket, a pair of gloves and a hat. I brought hot tea, coolers to keep my camera gear warm, and a sled to carry it all.

It was brutal. My camera kept fogging up, my sled was always falling over and my beard grew icicles. The only people remotely enjoying the wind were the ones who made a bottle-shaped sail boat they were trying to ride on the ice. (Pictures from that fine day are on pages 4, 5, and 6.)

The packs of dogs roaming amongst the shanties didn't seem to mind the cold at all. They had all sorts of fun hopping in and out of the shanties, running, biting each other, humping or just waiting patiently for someone to drop a hot dog in the snow.

Though I'd spent the whole day taking pictures, the difuse lighting and blowing snow led to some less than great photos. So I came back about two weeks later when it was sunny, warm and well-attended. I wanted to come back with a nice wide-angle fisheye lens to capture as much of the insides of the ice shanties as possible, but I couldn't afford to buy one. Instead I carried along a large, metallic lawn ornament and took pictures of the people and places reflected in it. I used it as a sort of poor man's fisheye lens. (Pictures from the sunny day at the ice shanties are on pages 1, 2, and 3.)

Photos by Stephen Stephens.