The WORLD Ice Carving Competition

I just got back of 2 hours of jaw-dropped-mouth-breathing. The world ice carving competition is being held in Fairbanks. This is its 25 year and brings a wide swath of international artists. The competition offers categories for professional and novice carvers in a variety of categories including “abstract”, “realistic”, and more. They are also categorized by block size including single block and multi-block. Ice is harvested from the lake adjacent to “Ice Park” and is renowned for its clarity. It looks like glass!! There are no air bubbles in it.

The visions of the artists are truly incredible and I can probably say that I have NEVER enjoyed art as much I did tonight. I hope you enjoy! Lots of pictures, and not much writing for this one :).

For information you can check here : http://www.icealaska.com/en/

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SINGLE BLOCK

These single block sculptures are carved from a large block of ice. The carvers can dice up the block however they want, but they only get one! The blocks are not small, and result in sculptures that average 7 feet or so. However, they were some over 10 feet!

Single Block size - uncut!
Single Block size – uncut!

Here’s a gallery of many of the single-block entries. In this case the pictures do not do them justice, truly incredible! (The images here are in a gallery, so clicking any of them will enlarge them and allow you to easily go through each of them. )

MULTI-BLOCK

The multi-block sculptures were HUGE. Some of them were 12 feet tall or more and some were 12 feet around or more. These were all roped off, so perspective was a bit hard, but they are a sight to behold!!

There is more carving categories this week and the location is open through the end of March, so you may see more Ice Carving pictures in the future!

 

9 thoughts on “The WORLD Ice Carving Competition”

      1. Yes! I would love to watch them carving. I am especially interested to know how they make the smooth, clear ice. I’m sure there is a whole toolbox of skills they pull from!

    1. The veins really blew my mind. I have no idea how you could cut him in half cleanly enough to sew him back together and etch the veins perfectly to match up. Ice surgery and ice welding classes!

  1. I may still be shaking my head tomorrow at the unbelievable talent, creativity and precision it took to create these works of art. I loved the Crystal Ballroom-it was so joy-filled!

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