A lonely sign marks the entrance to the Calumet Township park at Calumet Dam. Signs will be posted around town directing visitors to the Stamp Sand Art Experience from the highway. (Photo courtesy Dan Schneider).Different from many art fairs and festivals where artists set up booths to sell their work, the Stamp Sand Art Experience is a venue for artists to gather and make art in the same time and place.
North and a little east of Calumet, at the dead end of Waterworks Street (not to be confused with Calumet Waterworks Road or Tamarack Waterworks Road, which are both west of Calumet), the Art Experience is set in the middle of a mostly-open field with sporadic stands of birch and pine trees. This used to be an expanse of stamp sand and, after that, an automotive salvage yard, so there's some history under the ground.
Flyers around town promoting the Stamp Sand Art Experience, which is in its second year, aptly describe Calumet Dam as a "bizarrely beautiful landscape." Calumet Dam, which some people call Calumet Lake, is a little out of most people's daily rounds; but signs will guide visitors in from U.S. Highway 41 and M-203 once they reach Calumet.
Melithequin's Bling plays at the 2007 Stamp Sand Art Experience. The band is part of the musical lineup for this year's festival, as well. (Photo courtesy Dan Schneider).Music is part of the festival, with Melithequin's Bling, Pasi Lautala and Randy Wakeham and with Clay Hilman performing along with Rogar and the Horribles. The bands' backdrop is a derelict hot air balloon envelope suspended from the tops of birch trees. The hot air balloon billows in the wind considerably.
Carmelita's will be on site selling food. The Stamp Sand Art Experience is free and open to anyone. Artists are especially encouraged to bring their paints, clay, fiber, wood, etc., and spend the afternoon making art.
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