This is a brazen superlative, but our own Jim Macken may be the most prolific people-powered couch float artist IN THE WORLD.
Among the approximately 25 pieces he has paraded, career highlights include the flaming phoenix couch, the “midnight sparkle dinosaur sectional,” the “Mrs. Roper Three’s Company Loveseat” and “SpaceKats!”
The great patron of his art is WinterBlast—South A Street in Santa Rosa’s annual block-party which wraps around lush Julliard Park. Thrown into the yearly parade of mobile furniture are stilt walkers, giant puppets, electric jellyfish, high-kicking dancers and the Hubbub Club New Orleans marching band.
Lining the parade route are food trucks, crafty vendors, children’s activities, a bandstand and an activation of the street’s art venues, notably Café Frida, Strange Constellation, Santa Rosa Art Center, Uribe Gallery and The Imaginists Theater. The street is alive with joy-based art; it is a very local scene, and there is nothing else like it.
CH: Jim, you have named some of your couch float greatest hits, but this year’s entry might burn them all down—the chaise lounge Viking ship.
JM: Well, I had wanted to do a dragon, but I found the wings to be overly complicated—especially if they flap.
CH: So your solution was a serpent-headed long boat‚ or short boat. Will you be crewing it?
JM: My brother will. He’s terrifying in his Viking makeup.
CH: People might think there is an actual raid.
JM: He is a pretty good singer, and then he does improv comedy singing, so I told him he should be a singing Viking—that’s how we take this to the next level. That and the smoke machine (laughs).
CH: How many floats do you expect this year?
JM: Between 15 and 25.
CH: I intuit the answer, Jim, but give me your “why?”
JM: Some of the SOFA floats are just for fun. Some feel like you’re really making some sort of a statement. I’m not sure what sort of a statement, though (laughs).
CH: Ah, there you have the essence of art.
Learn more: WinterBlast is 3 to 8pm, Saturday, Nov. 9. And it’s FREE. Shady Oak Barrel house afterparty at 8pm. More info at linktr.ee/winterblastLINKS.
