Students from North Dakota State University's Departments of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Visual Arts are joining forces in an effort to create NDSU's best snow sculpture. Twenty-nine teams of approximately 100 students will compete against each other for the opportunity to show their piece in the 16th annual International Snow Sculpting Symposium in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Feb. 9-13. Artists from countries, including Guatemala, Mexico, Switzerland and France, will create sculptures from blocks of compacted snow that measure 10 feet by 12 feet by 12 feet. The symposium is part of the Festival du Voyageur, western Canada's largest winter festival.
Stevie Famulari, assistant professor of landscape architecture, Dave Swenson, associate professor of art, and David Crutchfield, assistant professor of architecture, have organized the competition to determine who will be named to Team NDSU. For the second year in a row, Famulari and Swenson will team up with Kris Mills and Chris Reisz from the University of New Mexico to form Team USA. 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.
Usually, only one team from each country is accepted to participate in the event. Because Famulari and Swenson developed such a good relationship with Festival du Voyageur organizers at last year's event, they will allow the NDSU students participate as a separate team.
"This is the first year NDSU has participated in this way. We are proud of the strong interdisciplinary relationship the architecture, landscape architecture and visual arts faculty have created to bring such an opportunity to NDSU," Famulari said. "The three programs have proudly worked together to move this project forward with our students - showing the strength of the faculty to use the commonality to strengthen the learning experience for all students involved."
The students will create a board and wax model of their sculpture, which will be judged on Monday, Dec. 7, at 9 a.m. on the fifth floor of Renaissance Hall. Gary Tessier, the 2010 International Snow Symposium coordinator, and Madeline Vrignon, a sculptor, will come from Canada to judge the competition. Famulari, Swenson and Crutchfield also will serve as judges.
Each team must be comprised of three to four students from at least two different disciplines. Students have been challenged to explore materiality, context, form, medium and ephemeral design elements. With their model, they are required to include the title of the piece, a narrative about the design, a drawing of the design from more than one view, construction details for the design, materials for models, a list of expected tools for building the snow piece and a list of expected details about building the final piece.
"The development of working with interdisciplinary teams is valuable for the students to learn from each other. And the chance of going to an international competition to meet people from other countries is an experience that broadens their education," Famulari said about what she hopes the students gain from this experience.