Photo of the life cycle of Our Lady of Artica from the 2023 Artica festival by Jen Ruff. See below for more pictures from last year’s fest!
Artica STL’s mission statement is: “Artica provides a platform to celebrate the creative spirit of St. Louis culminating in our annual riverfront festival.” It further states that Artica celebrates the ingenuity, innovation, and imagination of St. Louis.
My wife was asked to capture photography for a local band, The Library Birds, at the 2022 Artica. She’d photographed them quite a few times and it is always special to see what they create. This immediately was something different upon arrival. There were tents with some food, multiple artforms just existing in the spaces set up. It feels like what I like to call our local version of Burning Man meets art displays of all types. And it’s 100% free. NO commerce is exchanged. Instead, community is fostered – so how does this event blaze by the general public without more than a few hundred (at most) attendees?
Artica started over 20 years ago without ever being associated with financial gain of any type. Instead, it seeks to engage and foster development of the art community and I feel that it’s time the arts in St. Louis really engage over the coming 11 months to celebrate such an opportunity. Artica holds an open call for art submissions annually.
This is an all-ages annual event held every October. In past years, Artica was held at the historic site of the Cotton Belt Freight Depot along the North Riverfront, but this year it’s being held for the first time along 2nd St. and Cedar St., just south of the Poplar Street Bridge. The weekend comes to an end with an effigy burning in this postindustrial setting. Our Lady of Artica burns so largely and photography just gives a slight glimpse into the representation of such a weekend. After she burns to a safe and manageable pile of her materials, Articans run and dance around her. For me, it’s been healing and cleansing. We attended last year and this year but in the coming year will both commit ourselves to more involvement as this event is too special to not contribute parts of ourselves to. Arts are neglected and this event seeks to pay homage to those who dare to create to inspire humanity.
I wanted to end this with a plea for artists and humans of all ages and abilities to consider getting involved in Artica in some way. They are grateful for donations, volunteers, participants, and the community uniting to celebrate such variety and human connection that in these times is so desperately void. All information and resources can be found at articastl.com. Thank you. | Diane Ruff
Enjoy pictures from last year’s Artica, courtesy of photographer Jen Ruff. Click to enlarge.