People Project: In case you missed it...

People Project, originally uploaded by TreeBed.

Way back in January, during the hustle and bustle of the Okoboji Winter Games, there was a piece of art being created. It wasn't a brush stroke, or a sculpted mound of clay that local artist Chad Elliott used as a medium... no, it was people that Chad worked with to shape his artistic vision. Back in the fall of 2007, ArtsLive decided to join the fun of the Winter Games, and create a community art project. They enlisted the artistic talents of local artist/musician Chad Elliott, and the People Project was ready to be born.

To have a "people project" though... you need people. Everyone involved was a little nervous, but as the buses arrived it was clear that there would be a strong community of people to become the art. The actual form that Chad chose to facilitate was a turtle. The turtle design that was chosen came out of the location being habitat for nesting turtles (just below the Iowa Lakeside Lab on Miller's Bay). Turtles are also tied to Sioux legends of creation, rebuilding, as well as lending itself to ideas of community. All which came into play when trying to get over 170 people to form a design on a frozen lake. Although I think the real "art" of the whole thing was being a part of this short lived community (seeing everyone work together, laugh, listen, create)... the result of this ephemeral art, was the final fly-over photo revealing the design that Chad had laid out earlier in the day. It was a very cool thing to be a part of, and I hope it continues and grows larger each year.