Here's a sign of spring in Brattleboro: when the ice fishing shanties start to disappear from their winter home on the frozen "Retreat Meadows." The spot, more properly called Wantastegok (the original Abenaki name for this area), looks like a small lake or pond, but it's actually part of the West River. In the wintertime, ice fishing shanties appear on the white expanse--these are the same shanties featured in the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center exhibit we saw in January.
Then in March, when warm weather starts (sometimes only for a few hours at a time before going back to cold), I start wondering how long the shanties will stay out on the ice. There's often a weekend day when the shore is a cluster of trucks and people and shanties being moved around. And there always seem to be some holdouts waiting for one more cold spell... still out on the ice until the last possible moment before the meadow is truly thawed and on its way back to lake-like tranquility.
This year we had something extra to look at--the Artful Ice Shanties exhibit that took place last month at Retreat Farm right on the outskirts of Brattleboro.
Inspired by the museum's exhibit mentioned above, this was a
Design-Build competition that took place in late February (on land
though, which I was grateful for). The art shanties were very cool and all quite different from one other! Here's a quick tour of what we saw.
This colorful shanty with paper 3D tentacles was inspired by the documentary "My Octopus Teacher."
This shanty was called "No Justice, No Peace" and made to confront systemic racism by recognizing the huge problem and its effects, and that black lives matter.
Breonna Taylor. No Justice, No Peace.
This gothic arch shanty is called "Icy Hue."
Icy Hue has a spacious and inviting interior with chairs, table, tiny woodstove, cooler, and pre-cut fishing hole. I wanted to get inside and cuddle up with a hot fire and a good book.
Here's the other side of "Icy Hue."
This shanty called "Curiosity" is decorated with natural materials like branches and bark and features a skeleton peering into a fishing hole. Presumably it is taking a while to catch a fish? Or maybe this is one enterprising skeleton.
This wood shanty resembling an ornate pallet project is illustrated inside and out.
You can see there are scenes and images burned into the wood on the sides.
This red and white shanty is called "The Wishing Well" and is intended to be a way to cast spells and set intentions by casting a stone into the well. By the way, each shanty had a unique award printed on its sign, and this one got the award for "IMPRESSIVELY OVERCOMING MERCURY IN RETROGRADE."
The black shanty with moon images is called "Moon DieTM." I didn't actually figure out that it was a giant die until I read its name on the sign. This shanty is definitely the most noticeable from the road!
Here is Moon Die with Icy Hue in the background, and Retreat Farm behind that.
We really liked the Artful Ice Shanties! There was a nice number of shanties to look at, and each was thought-provoking and very creative.
Afterward we walked out on the ice itself. I've never been here in the wintertime, though I kayak here often in the summer. It was amazing to STAND right where I am used to floating. It was beautiful.
