For many years in the 1990s, Tom’s Burned Down Café hosted what was referred to as “Live Art,” several weeks in the summer when Tom would put up a tent, unload his art supplies and allow the art-hungry masses to descend on the scene and freely create. As the event grew, he added Sculptors Wrestle Steel, where braver souls would weld artwork using his scrap metal and blow torches, much of which is still on display at Tom’s.
This year, as a part of the LPC Grants for the Arts, Becky Wygonik and Julie Stryker applied to revive Live Art for the two weeks leading up to the 4th of July. The project culminated in the appearance of the creations in the parade.
Here are some images showing the creation process. Click the carousel to view full-size images.
From beginning to end, the Revival of Live Art was an incredible success. Over 100 people visited the workshop space over the course of the two-week project, including locals and tourists. Three elders led the discussion regarding what it means to be an elder and how to represent that in the parade: the elder puppets would be waking the world up and guiding younger generations to protect the Earth.
With the wisdom of the elders, the intention was to inspire action from participants and audience members alike. Included in the scenario was an enemy, The Evil Numb, for the elders to fight, and the elders becoming Battle Grannies.
Grannies and their feline side-kicks had their moment at the front of the parade, charming and interacting with the crowd. As the music switched to a sinister tone, The Evil Numb tore through this scene with its wildfire sidekick, real estate hawk, and a troupe of phone zombies.
Then the battle music began, performed by the Golden Pistols, a 10-12-year-old kid metal punk band, and the Battle Grannies walloped The Evil Numb and its henchmen!
They reached into its belly and pulled out chunks of red, white, and blue puppet gore and guts to defeat it, because “Grannies Always Win.”
Video from the parade.
All the art that emerged from the workshops was community created. Madeline Island Recycling Facility provided plenty of recycled material for puppet making and catering from Darlings Grocery helped to feed the visitors. The height of the project resulted with the Live Art parade entry being awarded the grand prize.
After the parade, many people were ecstatic about the return of Live Art and it was highly requested from the community and workshop participants that LPC host this again next year. The ability to do so will depend on funding and artist availability, but it is our hope that Live Art will come back again next year on Madeline Island.
Learn more about La Pointe Center for the Arts!
