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Last week, I installed a new sculpture at Watkins College in Nashville, Tennessee.  This piece was a tribute to my father who was a longtime board member of the Watkins Board of Trustees. He was very influential in the arts in Nashville and he was very much a part of the art scene for many years. In this tribute, I decided to go with a boat theme. I always remembered him taking me and my brother to see the barges being launched at the Nashville Bridge Company downtown. It was a cool event for a kid (not a lot was going on in Nashville back then) and it is a memory that always stuck with me. Since Watkins is near the Cumberland River, I wanted to use the concept of the river to tie my memories and its proximity together. The boat is stainless steel and is see-through. I wanted it to be kind of like a ghost or memory rather than a solid boat form, so I went with a light color and a visually light form. The boat is modeled after an Adirondack guideboat–an artifact of the place I currently reside. For the other structure, I chose to mimic a form that I had made years ago (as a model) that my father enjoyed. He always said, “Why don’t you make this one really big?” So, I did. In the middle of the piece is a sphere with an anchor. The anchor is a nod to my dad who was the person that kept me grounded the most.  The anchor is forever in stasis and unable to ever be used, so it functions as a memory similar to the boat. It was installed one year to the day from when he died.

Today was International Sculpture Day, a day to celebrate sculpture all around the world. We did our part here by casting some metal for the students. It was a great time, and I think the students really enjoyed it.  We don’t usually cast in Sculpture I, but it seemed like the thing to do….Special thanks to former student Jon Lalonde for his help casting.

pouring the dregs…

fun students, good times

Old School, but it rocks

Sculpture does rule

getting the beast ready

I wrote an article for Nashville Arts Magazine about the sculpture park opening down in Chattanooga TN this month. Go on down if you get a chance…

Hanna Jubran at Sculpture Fields

Charcoal 50×42

On Saturday the 16th of January, I will have an opening at Cumberland Gallery in Nashville, TN. This will be a group show of 5 artists from around the country in which I will be showing drawings from 2015.  I am pleased to have my first foray into the world of drawing at one of Nashville’s premier art spaces.

Nashville Arts just published my latest article, this time on artists John Henry and Barry Buxkamper.  You can read about them here.  It is a good show, so if you are in Nashville, go check it out.

One of our bright young sculptors passed away this week–Bryan Rasmussen was beloved by all that knew him.  His quick wit and generous attitude were everything one could want in an artist and a friend.  He will be missed dearly.

In June, the Harmonic Sculpture Garden at Le Domaine Forget opened to great fanfare and ceremony in St. Irenee, Quebec. The event was well attended by artists, dignitaries, and local art enthusiasts. Speeches by Quebec’s Cultural Minister and other politicians were well received and much appreciated by the artists that travelled to the exhibition.  Jim Fuhr, a respected art historian and linguist delivered a lecture (en Francais) about each artist and their works that were on display.  Later, Mr. Fuhr also gave a tour of the sculpture park to the public.  Artist that were on hand also talked about their sculptures and answered questions from the attendees. Linda Howard, Bryan Rasmussen, John Henry, Terry Karpowicz, Peter Lundberg and myself all were able to explain our process and interact with the crowd during the evening. In all, it was a first-class event that really showcased the hospitality and generosity of our Canadian neighbors in the Charlevoix.

Jim Fuhr in his element

John Henry in front of La Tour

Free range Jim Fuhr

Minister of Culture

John Henry and Jim Fuhr delivering speeches

Last week I was able to participate in the 43 edition of the International Snow Carving Competition in Quebec City, Canada.  This event is part of the Quebec Carnaval, a three week endeavor that features all kinds of attractions day and night. I am not sure how the good citizens of Quebec City have so much endurance for three weeks of festivities, but they really rock it out for almost a month. Truthfully, the event seems to have a lot of cool history and definitely a lot of civic pride.

Dan is new to the experience, so he clearly hasn’t embraced the weirdness yet…

The spokesperson for the Carnaval is Bonhomme, who is like a rock star in Quebec City.  He is a snowman that talks and has some sweet dance moves (we saw him really getting down at the outdoor disco moshpit rave dance party one night). Every year, Le Monde de Bonhomme sprouts up on the Plains of Abraham and turns into a frozen atmosphere of super fun.  There are dog-sled rides, horse-sled rides, regular sled rides and other carnival type events. 

Le Monde de Bonhomme.  Panoramic from atop the block

Those dogs look a little worried for some reason…

My teammates love the ice fishing tank where you can go and fish for some trout with a tiny rod and hook, and then have it cooked on the spot.  There were constant little groups of young people with little bloody plastic bags of fish walking around.  I guess they were saving them for later, maybe? Hard to say, but it’s always popular.

Human foosball game!

Once again, we threatened to go on the ice luge, but we were generally too tired and sore to do anything too exotic or strenuous. We were so tired that if there wasn’t a shuttle we probably wouldn’t have bothered to walk back to the hotel. There was a hot tub booth that had 3 or 4 hot tubs in which people were joyfully testing their immune systems and probably catching pneumonia. One guy jumped out and ran around the event site, which seemed foolish, but then again, I’m not from there, so what do I know.  I guess I know that when it is -23 out, it is pretty smart to have a lot of layers on. And not be soaking wet.

Hot tubbin’ at -20. No. Just no.

Dance party de Bonhomme

some cool decorations

After driving through the snowstorm that I had driven all night to miss the previous day, I arrived on Monday for the opening ceremonies and festivities.  Even though there were wrecks everywhere from Potsdam to Quebec City, the insane experienced drivers of Quebec were blowing by me at alarming rates of speed.  I am good in the snow, but I was impressed by the don’t care attitude of the majority of drivers that left me in the dust. 

The opening ceremonies were where we met the other teams, the organizers, and the volunteers.  Each team is assigned a Chef de Mission, or handler, to help with translating or getting any needed equipment.  Our Chef this year was Marc, the same guy we had last year.  It was nice seeing him again (along with his fiance Claire who was also a Chef de Mission).  He is a very excitable and talkative kind of guy, so he makes the various carving events fun and memorable.  This year, there was another team from the U.S.A. (there were two for some reason), three guys from Maine.  They had never carved snow before, so they were all excited and interested to hear what it is like to carve.  They are stone carvers and carpenters in real life, so they were no strangers to subtractive work, but they had a lot of questions about the snow (that we didn’t really know either).

Opening Ceremonies

There was a team from Germany, three nice ladies from Potsdam, near Berlin.  They were very surprised to hear that I was also from Potsdam, and after a bit of confusion, they realized I was talking about the NY version and not the real one.  It was a good laugh for a bit though.  Other teams were Canada (a sculptor, a police woman, and a student), Morocco (primarily sand sculptors), and France.  This year, there was some sort of funding problem, so many teams didn’t make it to the competition.  Overall, though, it was a great group of people this year.

It’s like a mug shot. My dad thought Tom was wearing those funny glasses with the eyes in them…

Opening night was a lot speeches and celebration (Bonhomme came by and gave us a pep talk) but it was also a time to meet the judges.  Each team was allowed to present a maquette to the judges to make sure any changes could be accommodated and accounted for at the end.  It seemed weird talking to the judges after having been the judge the previous week, but every competition has a different way they like to do things. The judges in Quebec take it very seriously and with good reason, this is a big-deal part of the festival. 

Poor Dan…just testing his back to make sure he’s up for it.

Day one was exhausting, partly because I had already been carving for a week, and partly because the snow was hard as cement.  Snow is temperature dependent, so when it is -20 the snow becomes extremely difficult to work with.  We were prepared with some new tools this year, so that was a big help, but it was still pretty slow going.  Basically, at that temperature you are carving ice more than snow.  Most of the teams only lasted about 9 hours on the first day because of the cold temperatures, and in our case, pacing. Our strategy was to pace our selves and not get too tired so that we could have a chance later in the week. 

These 10’x12’x18′ blocks weigh about 60 tons

getting started on the corner.  Note the extremely heavy home-made chisel.

we drill holes to make the sawing go faster.

The snow was excellent quality, in fact, it is the best snow we’ve carved in a long time. Todd, the snow block maker, really put a lot of effort an attention into the blocks (as usual). Even though the snow was hard, it was fine grained and consistent with just a little ice here and there–which is ideal compared to many competitions.  They use man-made snow, so it is much easier to carve and anticipate while you are carving.

For meals, each team is required to stop and be off-site during the meal time.  I think this is for safety mostly, but it is very European compared to the other competitions that I have been in. Other events tend to be 24/7 where competitors can come and go at will.  This competition also has a 10pm curfew except for the last night when we could work all night. The advantages are that all the sculptors are more included and there is more camaraderie among participants. Also, more sleep time. The drawback is that if you are sculpting on someone else’s schedule, which can sometimes be tough for the creative types.

Day 2.  Looks like nothing has happened yet…

Day 2 was a short day because we went to a sugar shack in the late afternoon and were done carving for the day.  Sugar shacks are fun winter-time restaurants in Quebec that serve maple syrup themed dinners.  It’s kind of like breakfast for diner with a musician and dancing.  They seem to cater to groups of people and probably tourists, but the locals that we went with knew all the songs and all the dance moves. 

Sugar Shack!

The music is pretty accordion heavy, so it is not your typical stage show. This year, the place we went to was on Ile d’Orleans just outside of Quebec City.  We loaded up a yellow school bus and headed out on some very slippery roads at quite a fantastic rate of speed.  Luckily, the windows were totally frosted over, so I couldn’t see if we were about the crash or not. Pancakes, beans, ham, and beer were the fare that night, so it was a perfect way to end a day of carving.

Volunteers in a group photo

Bonhomme came by, of course, because he digs the sculpture carving.  He gave us another pep talk, but he must have had a cold because he sounded really different than the night before.  In fact, he sounded different each time we met him.  Hmmmm…

For desert, the sugar shack experience includes a maple bar, which is a fancy way to make maple taffy.  The proprietor pours maple syrup into a snow covered bench, and you take a popsicle stick and roll up the hardening syrup so you can eat it. It is a super fun way to have an extremely sweet after dinner snack. My sister-in-law would not approve (she’s a dentist) but it is a very popular treat in the Quebec area.

Me and Bonhomme are tight like that.

Bonhomme doing his signature move and his secret-service-like guy in the background. Seriously, they have earpieces and everything…

The third day it was down to serious business, because that is the day when you start to feel you might be running out of time.  Even if you are on track, the block is so massive that it seems like nothing is happening as you carve. Large areas of snow disappear, but when you step back to look, nothing drastic seems to have changed.  12 hours of carving on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday get the ol’ muscles moving a bit.  The labor is extremely intensive depending on the design you are trying to make. It’s basically like shoveling snow for 12 hours at a time. At these cold temperatures, the tools need to be sharp, but they also need a little weight for them to go through as much snow as possible. The weight and the position of the carving makes is quite tough.  I tried to count how many times I swung or poked the 10lb chisel at the sculpture, but I lost count (and interest in counting) at about 3,500 in an hour.  This works out to approximately 40,000 reps per day.  At the end of the day, it’s hard to lift anything above your head because you have been pursuing a non-ergonomic situation for hours at time.  A veteran move is to make it seem like there is a lot of snow missing, but to not really carve all that much.  We are certainly experienced, but that is not our way.  We like to remove as much snow as we can so that the form looks light and airy.  Volunteers from the local massage school do come to give 15 minute massages to the carvers every couple days, so it is possible to get a little tension worked out, but it never seems to be enough to dent the soreness. On the first night one of the masseurs pushed on my back a little funny, so I was in horrible pain for a couple days until a different guy came back and patched me back up.  So…there was that at least.

some night action

Backlit, getting to work

night lights looked good. The 2nd on the left looks like a big banana though..

Spotlight on the meteor

Different angle at night

sunrise in the land of Bonhomme

The final night is called ‘White Night’ where the sculptors are allowed to work until judging at 9:00am on Sunday.  This year, we worked a bit ahead so we didn’t have to stay up all night. We slept about 4 hours, so compared to some of the other teams, we were well rested on Sunday.  At midnight, the volunteers bring food and coffee for the carvers, so it is a nice bonding moment for all the people involved in the competition.  At 9am sharp, it is tools down for the competitors and the judging begins. For the judging, all the captains are given 2 minutes to explain their sculptures to the judges. I like this because is gives you an opportunity to highlight the things you want, and since there is often a language barrier, the competition provides translators for each team. 

stage for the medals, the wind was crazy.

The medal ceremony was pared down a little this year compared to last time, but it was still cool. Cold, actually.  Brutally cold.  It was -5000 degrees anyway, but the wind was blowing extremely hard, so it just cut right through everyone. They had to hold down all the medals and everything so they wouldn’t blow away off stage.  Bonhomme seemed to be unaffected, but he is made of snow after all.  For the ceremony, we went up on stage and had our picture taken with some folks and then went back to the sculpture for more pictures.  Our American Consul came by to say hello and to congratulate us as well as the Maine team for being there. It was great to have some support from the homeland, it made us feel good to be acknowledged and to be taken seriously.  Hale was a class act and even brought us cookies from his wife. 

Our biggest fan.

The medal ceremony. It was so cold and the wind was unreal.

Getting our medals!

Hale, the American Consul came by to celebrate our win! Super nice guy, brought us cookies and everything.

With Claire and Marc

With Mr. Sawyer, the president of the snow sculpting event.

Team USA with Marc our Chef de Mission

cold and tired….

Team USA Maine with a surreal entry

Team Canada with a dragon type figure. 2nd place!

Germany’s beautiful doughnut forms

Tom doing Bohomme’s signature move

Our rap about the piece. Typo not our fault…

The Public View

makes me look small

some tools of the trade from team Canada

After the ceremony, there was a party for all involved.  It was fun to cut loose with the other competitors for the first time.  It is different than Nationals because there is more of that early on in the competition, rather than later, but it was still great fun.  It was nice to talk to everyone informally and easier to find out more about who they are and what they do in their normal lives.  Even though there are some severe language barriers, there is still a lot of mutual understanding and companionship. 

In all, it was a ridiculously fun trip though it was extremely exhausting.  I think I lost 5 pounds in 5 days (sculptor discovers one weird trick for weight loss!) just from the sheer repetition of the carving motion. Through that tired achey-ness you really do feel a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment, though.  I hope to be back in future years because the event itself is amazing and the city of Quebec is so great.

It’s that time of year, when I gather with some friends in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and we freeze our tails off for a week while carving snow at the National Snow Carving Championships.  This year was extremely mild compared to some years, but it was perfectly cold for snow carving.  If memory serves, the temperature was around 30-32 during the day and 15-20 or so at night.  32 (and sunny) is pushing it, but the snow was able to re-freeze during the nights, so all was well.  In fact, for pure carving, the temp made the snow soft and easy to get through, for the most part.  Snow is very temperature dependent, so the colder it gets, the harder the snow is to carve.  Conversely, the harder the snow, the easier it is to finish and sand, so this year presented a good mix of the two.

Sunrise at a frozen Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

My team was able to go this year and represent New York State in the contest, though my usual teammates were not able to attend (they went out and got jobs or something…). Undeterred, I loaded up the car with two new teammates (Alyssa and Hannah) and headed out west. We had to leave a day early because of an impending snow storm, and none to soon.  Luckily for us, the drive out was a fairly uneventful 13 hours.  While one teammate was pumping breast milk (8 month old baby) the other was homeworking via computer in the back, I drove on—making them listen to rough comedy and super sad indie rock the whole way. 

It was actually pretty relaxing to get in a day early because there was time to go see more of the town and get to know my team.  Lake Geneva is a small town in the winter but it probably triples its size in the summer.  I have yet to go there in the warmer months, but I hope to sometime.  My grandfather apparently spent a great deal of time there as a respite from the hot Chicago summers, so it’s cool to think about a connection between us, albeit, at different times and for different purposes.  For Winterfest, the weekend of the snow carving event, the town blooms into a bustling and festive place.  Thousands of people come for the weekend and view the sculptures, eat at the various restaurants, and partake of the general winter carnival fun. It’s a pretty cool experience for us because we are treated so well by the town and by the locals.  Everyone we met was warm and friendly, making the experience so positive and fun that you forget you are there to do some serious work. 

The first night of the event is always a meet and greet with each team, the organizers, and the stompers.  Stomper is the term for the people that make the snow blocks each year, and in this case, it is two dreadlocked, massively bearded, and guitar wielding brothers.  Actually, I think one of them is a drummer, but certain facts tend to escape after the first night of snow camp. 

Form the stompers use to make the snow blocks. The holes double as a ladder to get in and out of the form

Meeting each team is a great way see old friends that have competed before, as well as new potential friends that you haven’t met yet.  Some teams are gregarious, while others are much more reserved, but it is still a good opportunity to see who your competition will be and to talk with like minded people. Vermont, New Hampshire, and Colorado were all new (to me) this year, so it was cool to see some new blood (speaking of blood, I’ll get to the Alaska story later). Vermont was a mother/daughter team and New Hampshire was a father/daughter team, so there was definitely a family vibe to the event.  Actually, Nebraska has a father/son combo on the team, too. Illinois seems to have the same thing, but they will neither confirm nor deny one and the same. 

Ladies love Manbear

I gave my new team relatively little primmer about the event, so the first night was fun for me to watch through their eyes.  I told them there would be a man dressed as a bear (Man-bear Von Helsingvanberowitz) but they didn’t believe me until they saw his furry head.  I told them there would be a team all in kilts and with weasel alter egos (the Kilted Snow Weasels), but again, they were skeptical until they saw some hairy kilted legs. The team dressed as Vikings were believable to them, but the others were out of the comfort zone for sure. There seems to be a gathering force of costumery and shenanigans that make the competition hilarious and bizarre.

the king and his court

Of course, not everyone is insane and weird, there are mostly normal people that compete in the event (if you can call wanting to hang out in the freezing cold for 4 days and chip away at a snow block normal). In fact, many of the people that carve snow are not even professional artists, they tend to come from all types of professions and educational backgrounds. This is one aspect that makes the competition so interesting, that everyone is very different but they have a common cause for one week.

Judging from the hat, I think this guy has been here before…

The first day of competition is always a test of will and human compassion.  Half of the contestants are severely hungover and the other half both sympathize and revel in the foolishness of mankind. This year was no different, as I saw some bleary eyes at the morning breakfast. Most people tend to perk up as the bracing cold hits, but then the all-team meeting puts people right back into their trances. 

All-team meeting to start the event in the beautiful Riviera

The team meeting is where Don, the organizer, goes over the rules and answers questions and such. This year, Michelle (assistant organizer and former Kilted Snow Weasel) put a timer on the speaking, which was loudly cheered by many. Seriously though, it is a necessary meeting so everyone is there and really does have a great time getting the event off to a great start.

At the team meeting, it was discovered that team Alaska was down a man.  Apparently, in the middle of the night, one of the teammates got up to use the restroom and tripped while in the bathroom.  Unfortunately, he tripped and stepped right in the team tool bag.  To make matters worse, he then proceeded to fall into the bag itself (think of a very large duffle bag with extremely sharp chisels and other tools inside). 27 stitches later, he was convalescing back in the hotel room for two days. There were other minor injuries as usual, but nothing this serious thank goodness.  It made me think of several years ago when one of the Weasels (Randy) slipped on some icy stairs the night before the competition began and was also out for the duration.  Actually, Alaska set up a table and chair for their injured teammate on the last two days of the event so he could participate and tell the crowd what had happened.  I bet he told the same story 100 times in those two days.  Luckily, he should be ok though. 

The event itself has the usual trials of working outside in the cold: sweating, taking off layers, getting cold, putting layers back on, etc.  It seems like one is either freezing from wet clothes or burning up, with not much in the middle.  This year, with the temperature as it was, it was very hot.  A few swings of the chisel and layers were coming off, especially because it was nice and sunny as well.  It is always funny to me to be out in the freezing cold in a t-shirt and hear the exclamations and feel the general consternation of frozen passers-by.

The sweet sound system of the Riviera. Must be older than 30 to know how to use it….

Speaking of frozen, my two teammates were extremely excited about the movie Frozen and insisted that I watch it with them. Even though it was a short movie, we finally made it to the end after 3 nights of watching (sleep is hard to come by at snow camp, so I opted for that when I could). For a movie with so much singing, it seemed like a case study in group passive aggressiveness. If I’m honest though, it was a pretty cute movie with some clever songs.  It was also a great team-building moment for us. There always seems to be an event or situation during Nationals that is a bonding moment, and I think this was it for us.  It was either that, or the seemingly constant sound of the breast pumping machine coming from the bathroom…

Team photo with our block!

The first day of carving is pretty temperature dependent. Some teams that have a ton of snow to move usually like to tackle the project early (actually, the blocks are about 12 tons worth of snow) so when it is warm on the first day they tend to get moving.  Other teams tend to wait a day or so to get the major carving done because they don’t want the heat and sublimation to shrink the block too much. Every team has their own strategy based on what they are carving and what the weather forecast calls for (or how late they stayed out the night before). We started right away because our design called for a lot of snow removal and then some delicate finishing work.  The earlier we could get the major snow out of the way, the more time we would have for the surfaces to freeze up before we sanded them down. Overall, this was a good choice for us because the weather cooperated just as we had hoped it would.

getting started from the top.

Each year, on the first night of carving, there is a sponsors dinner.  This is a night of fun and food where each major sponsor of the event gets paired with a team for dinner and general fun. The cool thing about the night is that each sponsor usually brings gifts for the teams depending on what their company is about.  For example, restaurants sometimes provide free food to their team, or clothing manufactures provide hats or gloves. This year, our team was sponsored by the Lake Geneva Business District (a group of business in Lake Geneva).  They brought us a great give basket with all kinds of products from local businesses.  Of course, it isn’t necessary to get something from the sponsor, but it really does make each team feel welcome and important.  It’s a great tradition where a little goes a long way. 

We made buttons to hand out to other teams and sponsors

Each team usually brings a small gift for the sponsors as well as the other teams, too.  Sometimes these gifts are funny, sometimes they are useful, but again, it is nice just to be thought of and to exchange things with people from different cultures (relatively different).  Usually, teams bring a pin or a button or something like that.  Teams that have been many times have collections of these items from over the years, and usually display them on hats or some other clothing at some point during the event.  Ambitious teams bring some pretty cool items like Iowa that had blacksmithed some decorative swans for each team member, or Nebraska who usually brings homemade beer for everyone.  This year the team from Wisconsin went all out with some original t-shirts that summed up the experience of snow carving quite nicely. 

cool t-shirt from the Wisconsin team!

working at night on our piece

Alyssa and Hannah, though both sculptors, were new to snow carving so they didn’t know quite what to expect.  After a couple days of hesitation, they both really got into the spirit and started to knock some snow off the ol’ block.  I think initially they were afraid to do something wrong or take the wrong piece off (it’s hard to put pieces back on once they are gone) but after a while, they gave in to curiosity and no fear.

The Regatta, another angle

Hannah working on the inside of the sculpture.

This sort of unafraid spirit is exactly what one has to have when carving snow because if you are too hesitant, the block will look clunky and under-carved. They did a solid job realizing the piece in the end, especially since I only told them what they were making the night before the competition started.  Seriously, I showed them a terrible drawing and they made a pretty cool sculpture.

The Regatta. Strait and elegant lines are hard to do…

Judging at this competition is done by the artists themselves, not outside judges.  This method is quite rare in any competition that I know of, but it does make sense in a lot of ways. The idea is: who better to judge the artists going through a week of freezing cold art making than the same people that were there and witnessed the whole thing.  There are flaws, but overall everyone has high character and is very honest about the best piece.  It is unique to the sport and in any sport in general, and it gives Nationals its own mystique.

The invisible man, Dave, won second place.

‘green man’ sculpture

This one was cool, lots of carving

after being up all night carving….

Alaska’s “Salmonado”

We had plenty of adventures throughout the week including one local woman’s quest to see if the Weasels had anything on under their kilts, Colorado’s persistent snow carving groupie, seeing old friends at Harry’s pub, leading the group Omm, and other hijinks. Hopefully, next year we will be back and compete while seeing our old friends and meeting new ones.

Our view going home. Not terrible, but also not awesome

Our 1000 mile drive back was brutal because we had to leave right after judging to avoid yet another snow storm.  We did, thank goodness, but other teams had to stay an extra night or stop somewhere on the way. We drove all night and made it back to NY at 5:30am—just in time to get in the car and head to Quebec City for Internationals…

The winner of the competition. Dave Andrews’ Team Wisconsin