From Wood Carving to Ice Sculpting  

Ice harvesters extract more than 6 million pounds of blue ice from O’Grady Pound for the ice-art competition.

One of the largest tourist attractions in Fairbanks, Alaska is the World Ice Art festival. This winter festival draws approximately 20,000 spectators each year.

Ice harvesters extract more than 6 million pounds of blue ice from O’Grady Pound for the ice-art competition. After the ice has been delivered, sculptors begin creating their beautiful works of art.

The ice competition is divided into two classes, single-block classic, and multi-block classic. In the single-block classic competition, the sculpting teams are usually made up of two artists who attack a 5 x8 x 3-foot block of ice. Using chainsaws, ice chippers, blades, picks, and sculpting tools, the artists have only 2 ½ days to complete their masterpiece.

In the multi-block classic competition, the four member teams receive 12 blocks of 4 x4 x3 foot blocks of ice and have only 5 ½ days to complete their work of art. Many sculptors stay up all night working on their design, and dealing with the extreme cold, breaking saw chains, to create a work of art out of ice.

Each year, many of the sculptors return just so they have the pleasure of working with the medium. Once the teams finish the sculpture, lighting crews transform the sculpture with light and the winners are chosen by a jury of local artist, there are two categories one for realistic and one for abstract.

 

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