I was fortunate enough to accompany artist Jim Pollock on a 10 day "Pollock-Palooza" adventure leading from my previous posts of Chicago's Pitchfork Music Festival and his Open Studio Show Friday, July 13th to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota's 5th annual 10,000 Lakes Music & Arts Festival, July 17th-22nd, 2007.
I captured slightly over 2,400 images during the festival's performances and primarily in and around the PollockPrints booth. I plan on posting highlights from each day in a unique post dedicated to the events & activities of that specific day.
Here's some to kick off Tuesday, July 17th, 2007.
We rolled into the old Soo Pass Ranch around 2pm on Tuesday afternoon following a mostly direct 10 hour drive from Chicago with a few hours of brief sleep allotted once we hit the Minnesota border, a hearty breakfast in the late morning and a last minute shopping trip before entering the festival grounds. Once we arrived, "Grandma James" - our trusty tour guide, the festival’s amazing merchandising management leader and genuinely a very kind friend - took us on an exciting expedition via golf cart whizzing throughout the vast grounds stopping only occasionally to drop a quick hello to fellow artists or merchandise booths preparing to sell their wares.
As evening approached quickly, we pulled the R.V. into the Lake Sallie General Store and "Shakedown Street" region where Pollock would be stationed all week employing his antique bookbinding press to produce a 2 color, linoleum carved, hand-pressed poster in a limited edition of only 120. I briefly set up the booth, grabbed a few photos of Pollock beginning to print, shot some photos of an amazing sunset over Lake Sallie and quickly returned the R.V. to VIP camping (located directly behind the Main Stage) while there was still enough light to set up in this strange but wonderful new environment. Arriving just in time for darkness to set in, I prepared the living/sleeping quarters so Pollock could collapse after an all night/day drive and evening filled with printing. Knowing previously that within a few hours Pollock would be turning 43, I decorated the R.V. with Happy Birthday decorations, inflating balloons and taping up streamers, making sure not to lead him back home until after midnight in order to be the first to wish him a proper Happy Birthday.
As the moon rose over Lake Sallie, we had a steady stream of vendor traffic congregating to the booth and though the general public hadn't been allowed admittance to the festival grounds yet, the booth was hopping and the layout I prepared allowed for us to perfectly display over 60 works of art at once without one obstructing another too much. I formed a wall from one of my muslin photography backdrops and used binder clips to affix posters wrapped in mylar & poly bags (used to protect them against any unforeseen elements) pinned with safety pins to the cloth partition. The backdrop was also a great way to create a production facility "backstage" in the PollockPrints booth as it wrapped around a table that split the tent nearly in half, allowing an uncluttered, private area where stock could be stored, sorted, signed & packaged for purchase.
Pollock continued printing until early in the morning. Mosquitoes and gnats were flying everywhere attracted to the lights illuminating the white tent of the PollockPrints booth. The bugs would occasionally land on the inking plate as Pollock rolled his briar across the oily ink, mashing the little critters into a blood and guts compost that would comprise much of the early run of red. Dense humidity in the air clung to the paper making the cotton Stonehenge stock start to wilt with wetness. Originally, we had intended to leave the prints hang drying on a clothes lines overnight but fearing continued damp conditions, we decided to carefully package them in craft paper and return them to the air conditioned R.V. where they would be laid out and strung across the enclosed cabin to cure overnight.
We returned to the R.V. around 3:30am to prepare for an early morning wake up alarm of 8:30am. Pollock signed a remaining edition of 400 posters he had prepared for the festival prior at his Chicago studio. We finally got to sleep around 4:20am as you could just start to hear the birds chirping and see the sun nearly visible in the morning clouds. These 4 hours of sleep proved to be the longest I rested in the 4 days prior and 5 days following.
This was only the beginning... Tomorrow night campsites would be filled with hoots and hollers, pedestrian paths would be choked with traffic and though I was exhausted, I couldn't wait for morning until the festivities officially kicked off!
All photographs © 2007 Jason Kaczorowski
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