Every time winter rolls around in Minnesota, hundreds of thousands of people are left with only two options: hibernate for the season or get on with living. Art Shanty Projects was born out of the latter mentality as a new take on the local sport of ice fishing, in which dedicated outdoorsmen and women trudge out into the cold, go sit on a frozen lake in a little shack, drink beer, and stare at a hole in the ice… for hours.

The shanties, built by artists, architects, makers and the like, are positioned on a frozen lake. Since 2004, Art Shanty Projects have playfully skewered ice fishing every year in January-February.

A rotating cadre of artists and their creations unite friends and families in outdoor whimsy during winter’s doldrums, with shanties offering a post office, karaoke, a landed spaceship, radio station, camera obscura, seed bank, and a human carwash.

You never know what you’ll encounter in the Art Shanties!