Tom Dykas, during the early/mid years of Artica, was a regular artistic presence during festival weekends. We’ve even found some photos of him participating during 2008’s unique, riverfront-hosted year, dubbed Come Hell or High Water.
We conducted this interview via email. You can find a link to his homepage at the end of this Q/A.
In what years did you participate as an official artist? What drew you to applying for space and/or a grant? What were your projects all about? To be honest, I'm not totally sure. I definitely didn't start participating until more than four years after Artica started, maybe eight. I'm pretty bad with time scales. I did start at a time when there wasn't much of an official nature of participation. A friend (Mike) had invited me to help build a sculpture and I agreed but ended up not really following through. When I went down the morning of the start I saw the foundation he had cleared out and I guess something clicked for me. I'd been aware of Artica from its inception but, to be frank, I was trying to get away from my art school roots at that time and didn't find the idea of a free-form happening attractive. I didn't disrespect the idea of it or those involved but I guess I was still trying to be a manufacturer of products. Anyway, something clicked and I think I had some clay in my car and lined a reflection pool in the base Mike had already cleared and then surrounded it with broken bricks. That was it. It was great. I was so happy to make some art that I could just leave and not have to be a caretaker of, not make a statement about, neither offer or receive critique. Mike gave me some half-serious shit for pulling that and I deserved that.
My projects were about getting to go work with holes in the dirt and clay and water. Sometimes it was just a pool, sometimes a bit of a shrine above ground. Probably nothing inspired my vague goals more than a picture someone had shown me of that first reflection pool I'd made spur of the moment. It was a photo of some guy with a little girl on his shoulders, shot from behind, while they just stood and looked at the pool. That picture looked like the kind of quiet reflection that I then realized I really wanted as a reaction to my work.
Dealing with the physical space, itself, is a huge part of the installation process, it seems. Where did you set up? And did you ever have to fight rains, winds, heat, cold or other natural acts? I set up in the dirt, preferably not right on what looked like it would be a main drag but not too buried in the back. The landscape down there used to change so radically from year to year. Remember when the mounds first appeared? Sometimes that space has been mountains or wetlands or rubble.
Are there particular performances or installations from over the years that you can hear/see in your mind today? I remember Nita's labyrinth, Erin's light sculpture. My memories are pretty poor for details, my own work included.
What was special about taking part in Artica? I'm thinking here that the interaction between artists is a definite part of that...? What was special for me was being able to show up a few days beforehand and just start digging a hole in the ground and seeing where that went, following a vague idea of how I might play off of the current landscape. I'd dig for blisters on my hands and laugh when I was done because no matter how hard I worked, it always looked so tiny compared to the old buildings. I always tried to make work that would degrade into the landscape, become a part of it. Maybe that was inconsiderate of the idea of leaving no trace but people seemed to like it.
It seems as if every few years, there's a bit of a change in the core of the organization. I'm curious who you recall as being real "glue" folks in keeping the event alive and prospering? Lohr, Nita, Hap, E, Bill and a bunch of people who I never really got to know.
Is there a "perfect" undone Artica project in your mind, one that didn't come together due to timing or funding or other shenanigans? Not so much. I never had more than a vague idea of what I was going to do and even that would be something that was pretty off the cuff. For me, the beauty of Artica was being divorced from ambition.
I imagine that you saw and/or participated in the Boat of Dream Parades and Burns. Any memories of those bookending events? I think I made it to one Boat of Dreams Parade and I didn't usually stick around for the Burns. I love the people who did them and how much they got into it but coordinated group activity makes me bored or anxious, I'm not sure which. We'd have to ask the sullen teenager inside of me but he just blasts loud music whenever I try to find out what's going on with him.
Am I missing anything Artican that you'd like to discuss? I have a lot to think about with why I slipped away from participating in Artica. I'd be so sad to hear if Artica stopped happening but something just became inaccessible to me and that's on me not anyone else. The people of Artica really are special people.
Find Tom Dykas online at tomdykas.com.
More Artica interviews and content can be found here.