I first went ice fishing with my dad on Lake Champlain three years ago. Dad spent some summers as a kid at the Treadway family farm in Crown Point, NY a few miles from Lake Champlain, and developed an infectious love for the area and the people. My grandfather had grown up there with his parents and his nineteen siblings and half-siblings. My great uncle Cyril, the youngest, lives in the house now. He was born in the living room.

I had never joined my dad on one of these trips before, having dismissed his hobbies as unsophisticated. When I finally did go it was because we were closer now that I was an adult.

At that time I was feeling defeated by the photos I was making at home. I had recently moved to New York after having lived in rural areas for most of my life. I spent months searching for a landscape substitute in the most desolate parts of the city I could find, without success. Taking pictures had become a struggle and had lost its joy.

There is an amazing variety of shanty designs on Lake Champlain each winter. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the people who make them due to the economy of their construction. Many are made from materials people have or find, a method known by the French term bricolage. A lot of love goes into their creation and their owners take pride in the result. I see the shanties as sculptures and portraits- each has a unique personality, and many have fully decorated interiors and amenities from home like cooking stoves and televisions. I am drawn to these structures because they exist for me as an artifact of my family and as art.

Cory Treadway