Ice sculptures on display

Page 4

A warm, sunny afternoon of midwinter sunshine can wreak more havoc on a finely carved ice sculpture than the worst barbs of the nastiest art critic.

Fortunately for the sculptors of a large male head, one of the creations currently on display at the Sapp Gallery in North Battleford, Mother Nature decided to lend a helping hand this year, keeping the skies clear, the air cold and the sunshine on hold.

"Like all sculptors who work with snow and ice, we really are at the mercy of the sun, hoping the weather will stay cold long enough to give life to our creations," said Dean Bauche, curator of the Allen Sapp Gallery.

The huge sculpture, carved from a single block of hard packed snow, is a highly stylized character portrait of an Aboriginal warrior with strong chiseled features, reminiscent of the stone portraits at Mount Rushmore.

"It's not a portrait of Allen Sapp himself," said Bauche. "It's a play on an image sculpted in Big River by Native sculptor Lindon Tootoosis. With the high cheek bones, bold expression and long flowing hair, it's a classic profile. The strength in that kind of face is unbelievable and that's what carvers look for."

What many people aren't aware of is that Saskatchewan has some of the most outstanding Aboriginal sculptors in Canada. Come winter, they turn their hands to shaping snow and ice, a powerful and dramatic medium that lends itself to sculpture very well.

"Working on large blocks of snow and ice teaches you to have a lot of respect for the medium, and its dangers," Bauche explained. "In the formation of large chunks of snow, we take our lead from the snow sculpture events in the Quebec Winter Carnivals. Vast amounts of snow are blown, dropped and packed in big wooden molds and left to set for several days. The volume and weight of crystallized snow is very substantial, and must be treated with care. We have to respect the fact that a big block has a lot of weight and can collapse. Some of the blocks are so massive that, as a necessary safety precaution, they have to keep them roped off from the tourists."

The creation of a "full house" of ice and snow carvings, which dominate the front lawns of the Sapp Gallery in the late winter months, has become an important annual tradition in the city. It started five years ago when one of the most respected Native sculptors in Canada, Lloyd Pinay, came to the Battlefords to teach a course on ice/snow carving to a group of Saskatchewan Native artisans and carvers, including Lorne Fineday, Darwin Atcheynum and Lindon Tootoosis.

The workshop, held shortly before Pinay was scheduled to head off to Europe and represent Canada at the Lillehammer Winter Olympics as our official ice sculptor, left a deep and lasting impression on everyone involved, including some junior members of the art community.

"Snow sculpting can also be done at home, using ordinary garbage cans as molds," explained Bauche. "The snow should be keep hard packed for a few days, then turned out on the deck or front lawn to be sculpted under careful parental supervision. You can't be too careful with large blocks of snow, especially when children are involved."

Pinay's influence in Saskatchewan has been considerable, inspiring a whole new generation of Aboriginal sculptors to pick up their flat-nosed spades, hack saws and machetes and take on a really big block of ice.

Moving from ice blocks to heavy metal, Pinay is currently working in Ottawa on a large commission that won't melt down in the sun: The national Aboriginal veterans statue, a huge bronze sculpture that will honor our fallen Aboriginal warriors, now and for all time.