What was your first year of Artican attendance? What do you remember about the event? I participated in the first Artica festival, my best guess of the year is 2002 or 2003? You tell me! {It’s 2002!}
What I remember of the event is how it came to be - much of this you might already know:
Hap and Nita lived above Hibdon Hardwood and witnessed football fans tailgating and as a result leaving garbage in their “backyard” on the regular.
During that time, early 2000s, a group of friends began hosting “Tuesday night spaghetti dinners.” ( Everyone usually brought a vegetable for the sauce. I think it was eventually nicknamed Spag Nights?) At first, dinners were mostly hosted on the third floor of the Leather Trades Building (in a space rented by a few artists, Billy and Heather’s unfinished loft.) We hosted some group art shows in this space….
It was at one of these dinners where I can still hear Nita getting everyone’s attention “Hey Guys…….. Hap and I have been thinking….. etc, etc. If they can come and trash this area, we ought to be able to have an arts festival.” I think she even unveiled this name Artica to see what everyone thought:) The people at that particular evening's dinner are likely the people on the cover of the RFT. A small group of us who pulled it off together, in some form or fashion, the first couple of years.
What's been your relationship to Hap, Nita and the other key board members over the years, if I may ask? I miss Nita and it’s always good to see Hap. I have distinct memories of Nita, one-on-one, giving me such thoughtful, confident and wise feedback and advice. She was really cool. They are both one-of-a-kind.
During that chapter of life, looking back, I think it is really special that the people who are coming to mind right now all found each other. Hap and Nita were part of a community of many artists at the time really working parallel and together on art happenings in St. Louis. This subset of spag-arts seemed like chosen family.
I'm embarrassed to say that I don't have a full list of funded artists. Did you ever receive official grant money and what did you do as a project or installation? The years I participated (years 1, 2 only maybe???) there wasn’t organized funding. Hap and Nita were at the beginning of their whole 501c3 journey.
My project both years was inflating large balloons with helium and sending them like smoke signals as high in the sky as they could go… so those arriving could see the event from a distance. (I’ll search for photos) The first year, I believe Tim Tucker helped me with finding a way to the roof of the Cotton Belt building. The second year, the balloons were launched from a different building, closer to the river and a little south.
Do you have some all-time favorite moments from attending the event and/or any of the side events that Artica's put on, like STL Fringe? My favorite moments include: whenever the large wheel was rolling around the premise (with people on it) (Jason Deem owns this thing, I think. I see Cara rolling in it solo sometimes.) Other memories: How Pink Brains camped out Year 1. They kind of created their own village between buildings and camped out. Even made pancakes in the morning? These days, I’m not sure how many people stay at Artica around the clock or camp there….. but I was impressed with people, back in 2002, for overnighting in such a strange landscape.
Are there particular artists, performers or musicians that you think have really, really hit the mark over the years, in terms of creation of "perfect" art for the space assigned? Everybody brought it in different ways….. One year there was a ceramic “cupola” that I think Tom Dykas and Carmelita Nunez were behind. Keith Buchholz always dug deep and made work directly related to the ancestry and history of this land location. Of course, the live music performances have stuck with me. Eldraco, Celia….. I liked the overall feel of people wandering around the grounds, running into each other and catching up in a different environment for a moment.
What're your thoughts about the Boat of Dreams Parade and The Burn of Our Lady? Does one speak to you more than the other, for whatever reason? Are any of those bookending events particularly memorable and why? I think the purpose and highly symbolic nature of these events are great gateways for participation…. but they are lower on my list of sought out experiences… I didn’t catch the beginning of the festival (Boat of Dreams) or the burn at the end very often. I am, however, a “pyro” and appreciate the intensity of the burn when I was present.
At its best, what energy does Artica bring to an attendee? Hmmmm, I really think this must depend on the individual's comfort level. This landscape is most varied and unusual and really on the edge and intersection of a lot of social politics. For example, the festival intrudes on the homeless/semi-homeless who live in the area. I’m not immediately familiar with present day “politics*” (for lack of better words), but I think this is an interesting facet of the festival. For newbies: just a brush with the unexpected “Oh, this is how some people do?! And for veteran attendees: they kinda get it, and every year there will be something new.
And at its best, what does Artica offer a participating artist? This question reminds me of a term I heard at Burning Man: This person referred to non-Burning Man weeks of the year as the “default world”. I think Artica, year after year, allows some people to leave the default world… We can muse on the idea of these environments we create as always being here for us to escape to… a world of thinking and expressing with this different vocabulary.
Could you see Artica run a similar slate of programming in a different space? This is a thought exercise, but with awareness that the site has been under threat of sale or unavailability over the years? The river seems integral to the project…. I remember some very interesting events throughout the years and perhaps there are some less urban, more rural locations (still with architecture!) that could create a more “time away from reality” feel….. if camping were encouraged and it was a destination event/festival.
Did you ever (or do you still) have a perfect Artica project, one that just needs money or time or some special magic to make happen? If I were to participate in Artica again I would create a new iteration of my helium balloon project. I feel like this would be a small request that could be funded by the organization, which is really cool:)
Find Jenna Bauer online, with links to both art and music.
More Artica interviews and content can be found here.