Northern Spark festival set to deliver mail art projects, dance in the streets, tours, sculpture

Jun. 5—The always-edgy Northern Spark festival has a decidedly old school component this year — mail. As in U.S. Postal Service. As in stamps and mailboxes and deliveries of art that you can hold in your hands.

Mail Art Projects is one of three major spokes for 2021 Northern Spark, which runs June 12-27.

For the first seven years of Northern Spark in the Twin Cities, it was a dusk-to-dawn affair. In 2018, it shifted to two nights, cutting out the wee hours when crowds diminished and festival participants pushed themselves to stay awake. The festival planned to take 2020 off — even before the COVID shutdown.

Over the years, events have shifted between St. Paul and Minneapolis, one year running the length of the Green Line between the two cities. The 2021 Northern Spark is a mix of virtual and live, with the live events taking place in St. Paul.

Sarah Peters, executive director of Northern Lights.mn, which produces Northern Spark, said planning decisions had to be made in December, when so much was unknown about the pandemic and "time is this very elastic weirdo experience."

The theme of this year's Northern Spark is "Alchemy," and the projects chosen for the festival are a "real mix," Peters said. "It's a real alchemy, which fits the theme. We have some incredible artists and ways to engage people and still be safe."

Here's what's up, starting with the Mail Art Project, which focuses on St. Paul neighborhoods and delivers "artworks, handmade gifts, bits of joy, bits of hope," Peters says. Festival events include a street dance, new sculpture, tours and virtual projects.

Mail Art Project

Post Card Friends: Ten BIPOC artists with ties to St. Paul's East Side created designs for more than 1,200 postcards, which will be sent to East Side residents. They can keep the postcards, which are small pieces of art, or send them on. "Viral transmission is such a negative concept in the past year," Peters says. "This is a viral transmission of joy, community support, love."

Seed Paper of Hope: Artists Kallie Melvin and Eva Adderley of Milkweed Collective have embedded seeds into paper, which will be mailed to addresses in the Frogtown, Rondo and East Side neighborhoods. The three pieces of the seed paper come with a suggestion to write a wish a piece and plant it and mail one to a friend. Peters says the artists looked for seeds that are native, hardy and not difficult to germinate. Some of the seeds could be for food plants and "literally nourish people." Peters says the project counters much of the "junk mail" people receive that's useless and anti-environmental.

Collaborative Blocking: a Community Map: Some residents in the Rondo and Frogtown neighborhoods will receive maps that invite them to take a walk and investigate the past and present of the area. Along with way, there will be prompts, clips and sound files to access through a smart phone (or people can just read about the locations on the map). Through the process, Peters says, artists Corinne Teed and Tia Simone-Gardner hope to bring back "feelings of empowerment and agency." The Northern Spark website describes it like this: "As residents drift through the neighborhood on their chosen routes, they will have the chance to share stories, photos and audio clips about what they see, feel, smell, hear and perhaps taste block by block."

The post office became an "incredible entity in 2020," Peters says, hit by political and financial challenges and carrying mail-in ballots. "They were literally delivering democracy," she adds.

Northern Spark doesn't know who will receive pieces in the mail. "We're kind of throwing that artwork into the world, knowing there may not be a response," Peters says.

Virtual Connections Projects

As artists shifted to online during the pandemic, they've displayed so much creativity, Peters says. "It's fun to ask artists to play with these platforms." Virtual performances also allow Northern Spark to work with artists they may not have been able to reach in person.

Sur la tableau avec Lightning Rod: The queer and trans artists in the group Lightning Rod will present four nights of virtual "experiences," Peters says. The group is interested in "slowness," she adds, which is a thread coming through a lot of the projects. Lightning Rod will challenge participants to slow down in a webinar format performance. Viewers can decide if they want to participate or just view the performances, which will be long — three hours each. On the Northern Spark website, the artists say, "Over these four separate performances we will prepare, cook, consume and celebrate a meal. The belly is a cauldron that transforms us from the inside out." 8 to 11 p.m. June 17-20.

"The Wind Always Strikes the Highest Mountain": This short film by Yeej Moua looks at the grieving processes in the Hmong community that were disrupted by pandemic restrictions on gatherings. A teen wonders if her dead brother's spirit will be able to pass over without the traditional three-day funeral. There will be three showings with a Q&A with Moua and cast following. The film features an original song, Peters says. 7 p.m. June 24, 8 p.m. June 25, 2 p.m. June 26.

Sol Soundgarden: Artist Dameun Strange and collaborator Sayge Caroll have created an augmented reality project where participants follow a map to geotagged soundscapes — "Soundblooms" — in Frogtown. Peters says Strange looked for quiet places and it follows the theme of slowness, encouraging people to stand and listen. 24 hours, from 9:02 p.m. June 19 to 9:02 p.m. June 20.

Vigil: The culminating event of Northern Spark is a livestream performance from sundown to sunup, created by L.A. artist Gabrielle Civil and featuring St. Paul dance and performance artists. Civil invites participants to "hold this space with her for a moment — to slow down and process what this insane year has been," Peters says. 9 p.m. June 26-5 a.m. June 27.

In-Person Events

Braiding our Stories Together: Youth Organizers of Indigenous Roots and the International Indigenous Youth Council created an interactive and intergenerational sculpture that will open at Hamm Park on June 13 and be on display for two weeks. "It was inspired by indigenous youth who want to know the stories of their elders," storytelling that was disrupted by isolation during the pandemic, Peters says. The sculpture features long braids and has QR codes to hear recordings, poems and stories embedded in the sculpture. It was created in partnership with artist and elder Gustavo Boada. Opening 1:30-3:30 p.m. June 13, on display for the two weeks of Northern Spark.

You Change Me: For this Northern Spark opening night dance party, artist Lelis Brito created a "dance phrase" that she will teach to five other dance movement artists. They show it to five others. "A component of it is like dance 'telephone,' " Peters says. It ends with 30 dancers recording dances through neighborhoods, which will be compiled into an online collage. At the dance event June 12 (open to anyone, but registration is requested), participants will meet at Central Village Park in St. Paul where they will be divided into five groups and taught the dance phrase. Then they'll walk/dance through neighborhoods and end up at either the Victoria Theater Arts Center or Springboard for the Arts on University Avenue.

"I'm really proud of the balance of things that came together," Peters says. "We started with a blank slate and a lot of shifting information."

NORTHERN SPARK 2021

— What: Northern Spark 2021, "Alchemy"

— When: June 12-27

— Where: Virtual and locations in St. Paul

— More information: Artist bios, projects, schedules at 2021.northernspark.org.