Built was built and they came

Tristan Hummel (front) considers next setup moves

Take a parking lot, add several large truck sized steel shipping containers. Place them in random order in that lot. Result...you have built a neighborhood within a neighborhood. Invite an assortment of creatives and marketers to decorate, perform and/or market in and around those containers for a couple of days and you will have built an instant community... Built. That was the Tristan Hummel creation in the Aldi parking lot at 1767 N. Milwaukee Ave., Aug. 12 and 13.

Jojo Baby with friends

An amazing array of disciplines and degrees of talent appeared each time you turned a corner. It included a New York line of clothing, whose people couldn't talk to the press...but then they did, to the local bakery with scrumptious liquor laced cupcakes as well as local clubs/bars offering liquid libations. Non alcoholic FUZE and Pabst Blue Ribbon, two major sponsors, were eager for all to sample their products too.

Artistic offerings ranged from performances to conceptual presentations and a variety of art pieces.

There were established artists including Jojo Baby and his magical menagerie of puppets and things and Richard Shipps' spectacular meticulously hand cut pieces. Baltazar Castillo presented some conceptual art pieces while a creative group of Columbia College related artists presented live and not so live people as part of a statement about corn gradually killing us all.

In Le Bistro Blue one could order a meal that was painted by an artist chef. Another establishment made of cloth and cardboard created handcrafted items for visitors. Their very existence was cut short as they could not "weather" the downpours.

City created by spray cans

A stage had live entertainers from time to time but the air was infused with many sounds of melodious and/or loud sounds sometimes punctuated by hammers and mechanical wheezes and whines.

Hummel reports that there were 80-90 participants and around 1400 visitors. "We wanted to prove that we could do an event like this successfully. We did that. Personally, I am disappointed that the rains came and pretty much wiped us out on the second day, reducing the number of people we expected to come to the show. But it was successful."

Saturday's deluge caused many exhibitors to leave and the organizers stopped charging at the gate. "It wouldn't be fair to charge them when a lot of the 'actors' left the show," explained Hummel. With his proof of concept under his arm for a bigger and better container show, he is racing around for his Sept. 17 event of the 4th Annual Art On Track. This entails riding a train filled with artwork on the "L" rails in the loop from 5 to 10 p.m.