Sunday, January 10, 2010

'Tis the season (again)

The Icealaska world ice art championship is right around the corner, and being the fool that I am, I'll be leading a team in the Multiblock competition (28 Feb - 5 Mar). We get to carve up ten blocks, each approximately 6' x 4' x 3', turning them into some sort of scene.

My team was likely to consist of Jeremy Harbek, Jill Shipman, Tim Macintyre, and myself. It turns out, though, that Jeremy has his nose to the grindstone throughout the spring, as he's trying to graduate, so a replacement is needed. Tim happens to be in Africa, but brief email exchanges thusfar make me optimistic that he'll be able to tear himself away for the competition. While, as far as I know Tim doesn't have any ice carving experience, he's been known to wield the chainsaw and I'd bet he is at home with heavy equipment. Jill has carved in the Amateur competition a couple times, but has never competed.

I'm currently hoping that my friend and previous carving partner, Katie Hessen, will be able to take the mantle from Jeremy. The only problem is that she's in Africa right now (coincidence), and has a real job. She's got tools and has worked on just about everything that I've carved, including "Ahab" from a previous multiblock competition.

As for me, I've carved in the multiblock once: lots of chainsawing, and basically just following directions. I've also carved in the single-block once, and have done several other sculptures in the amateur competition, the kid's park and a couple other places. This'll be my first captaining of such a large project.

The project itself: "Sonoran Sunset" (or some such name). I've recently returned from a trip to the deserts around Tucson, where I managed to gather some resistance to our weather (currently -32F ), as well as gained inspiration for this project. A mock-up photo (1st really-really-rough draft) is included here.

Within the photo: Saguaro cacti, cholla cactus, barrel cactus, plenty of prickly-pear, and javelinas drinking at a desert oasis, with a small waterfall cascading off some rocks (fossilized sand-dunes). In the original mock-up, I have a mountain lion looking on... he might reappear, but I actually envision a bat-flight instead. The cactus may have a creature ot two poking out, and there may be tracks in the "sand" nearby.

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