I’ll tell you a story.

I first met Carlos Ferguson in the summer between his junior and senior year at Grinnell College. He was venturing into the fabled printmaking program at the U. of IA, where I was a graduate student. My hours at that point in my life were ungodly. I got up at 4:30 to journey from Cedar Rapids to the print studio, and work in the pre-dawn quiet.

Leaving the print studio one afternoon, Carlos declared to me that he was going to do a reduction wood-cut of a self-portrait that he had drawn. Carlos had already proven that he was good for his word, but I have to admit to unabashed amazement the next morning when I walked up to the corridor that (then) housed the work areas of aspiring printmakers. I was greeted by the glorious sight of a clothesline-like arrangement of a succession of wood-cuts of Carlos effigies. The draughtsmanship that informed the image was so strong, and the printing was masterful. That was in the summer of 1989.

Carlos’s modified Airstream

Carlos has continued to be an artist whose activity has been a source of wonder and inspiration, so when he told me that he had wearied of the isolation that the artist’s life had imposed on him, I was interested in how he would resolve this issue. He started working in collaboration with friends, first adapting old Airstream trailers by cutting the middle from them and fusing the front and back into magical, beautifully finished “pods”. These, he uses as mobile, community-animation studios. He travels (often with his friends) in these pods in what is dubbed the “tiny circus”. This summer, I watched the tiny circus working on animations with folks visiting the Des Moines Art Festival. In the evening the animations were projected from the pods onto a nearby screen.

A constellation from Tiny Circus

If you’re having difficulty envisioning just how all this works, you’re in for a treat. tiny circus will be featured during the gallery tour on Oct. 2 by the Marion Arts Festival. Look for the Airstream trailer in front of the gallery! The festival has tiny circus on board for festival day in the spring of 2010, so this is a sneak peek at this most innovative approach to art. Come see the tiny circus Friday, October 2. The fun starts at 5, and never seems to end around here.