2012 World Ice Art Championships

We went a little late to the World Ice Art Championships this year. It started on February 28th, but we didn’t make it there until March 12th after the multi-blocks had been finished and the awards issued. It has certainly been harder finding time this year, especially since Kate has a full course-load on top of work this winter and spring. If you are in the Fairbanks area and haven’t been yet, you should go soon. It’s only $10 (or $25 for a season pass) and it has been cold enough that none of the sculptures are damaged yet.

If you remember from last year, Ice Alaska was having some real venue problems. At the last minute a location was found thanks to the generosity of George L. Horner, son of George R. Horner and family. Then with the hard work of Ice Alaska director Dick Brickley, hundreds of volunteers and, of course, the artists this wonderful event could persist. Thank you!

The new site of Ice Alaska, the George Horner Ice Park. Let’s wander through a magical forest full of ice and lights

Here are some images from the sculptures that really caught my eye. I’m trying to find/post links to all of the artists, but it may take me a while to get all the links together. Until then, there are short artist bio pages and some links on the Ice Alaska sites sculpture pages (links removed or changed on icealaska.com – maybe they only keep them for a year). Many of these photos don’t do the artwork justice; there is so much flattening of the image that with some it’s really hard to tell what you’re looking at. I tried to do my best to give them depth. This just means that you have to get to Ice Alaska in Fairbanks!

Crystal Swan by artists Karim Mukhamadeev and Timirkhan Mukhamadeev of Russia.

Metamorphasis by artists Stan Kolonko (USA) and Jerry Perun (USA).

Space Dog by artists Chris Foltz and Zach Moore of the USA. The dog looked pretty mean.

Geoflames by artists Stan Kolonko, Chris Uyehara, Jerry Perun, and Wei Sen Liang of the USA. A close-up of part of this huge structure is below.

From the multi-block competetion. The artists were Rodrigo Ferreira (Portugal), Sean Majka (USA), and Patricia Moodie (USA). I was really into the cubic and geometric sculptures this year. that is definitely what caught my eye the most.

Prickly Reception by artists Junichi Nakamura, Shinichi Sawamura, Satoru Mahoe, and Takahiro Sueyoshi of Japan. This was the first place multi-block winner. The details were absolutely stunning. Just take a look at that porcupine!

They’ve all done such a wonderful job putting this event together in this new location this year in haste. I can’t wait to see what this turns into over the years! Again, there are way to many pictures to fit here, so go check out the flickr set.