Two faculty members and three students from NDSU have been accepted to participate in the Festival du Voyageur 15th annual International Snow Sculpting Symposium planned for Feb. 12-15 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Festival du Voyageur is western Canada’s largest winter festival. Artists travel from around the world to create gigantic snow sculptures for the snow symposium.
Stevie Famulari, assistant professor of landscape architecture, and Dave Swenson, associate professor of art, will team up with Kris Mills and Chris Reisz from the University of New Mexico to form team USA 1. Kyle Slivnik, David Prom and Patrick Benson, all landscape architecture students, are team USA 2. Teams are selected for their experience in sculpture, originality and visual interest of the chosen subject and physical and artistic qualities of the proposed sculpture. “Typically, only one team from each area is chosen,” Famulari said. “Having two USA teams chosen is quite an exception.”
The festival’s theme is “The World’s Largest Kitchen Party,” but artists are allowed to entertain other large-format ideas they have envisioned. Each team is given a block of compacted snow that measures 10-feet by 12-feet by 12-feet. They also are provided a basic tool kit of shovels, spades, ladders and scoops. Teams are free to bring other materials such as wood chisels, saws and garden tools to help sculpt their pieces. Power tools are not allowed.
USA 1 will create a sculpture titled “Medusa’s Rise.” Famulari said the sculpture is inspired by the myth of Medusa and the serpents that are part of her head. The sculpture will be a massive version of Medusa’s head, which appears to rise while the serpents also climb from the ground. There is a stairway to a door in the back of her head, which allows people to see through the back of the sculpture through her eyes. According to the sculptors, this symbolizes the door to the soul.
USA 2 plans to create a snow globe. “Ironic, we know,” Slivnik joked. “Instead of the traditional globe, we’ve decided to tip it on its side. “The idea is to make it appear that gnomes have pushed it over, breaking the glass globe, spilling the contents of it onto the ground.” Titled “Mischievous Gnomes,” the team intends to create a sculpture that is visually interesting as well as something that people can relate to. The team also hopes to generate a smile or two.
Both teams have sculpting experience, just not with snow. Slivnik and Prom have experience sculpting ice. The members of USA 1 have sculpted ice, bronze, soil, wood, clay and wax. To enhance their skills, both teams have been practicing with snow piles around town. Famulari is building a snow fort in her front yard and Slivnik says that outside of snowmen, all members from his team have practiced sculpting jumps for snowboarding. They currently are practicing by sculpting caves and tunnels in snow piles around town.
Famulari says they will not be able to practice building “Medusa’s Head” until the symposium, but she is not worried. Having four diverse artists from landscape architecture and the art department is part of the strength of this team. Famulari thinks their ability to work well together adds to their piece “Part of the art process is just letting the process be, and letting the piece change according to the medium one is working in, as well as the direction the process of working with four artists takes the piece,” Famulari said.
“Our expectations are fairly high,” Slivnik said. “We want to make something that will hopefully get us invited back in the future. We look at this sculpture as a piece that we can add to our portfolios, so it is kind of a win-win for us.”
On Tuesday, March 4, both teams will show a short documentary on their snow sculptures at this year’s Fargo Film Festival. In celebration of the Fargo Film Festival’s opening film, “Ice People,” USA 2 also will put their snow sculpting skills to the test and create another snow sculpture in front of the Fargo Theatre.
For more information, contact Famulari at (505) 710-3586.
Jan. 23, 2009