| When it comes to breathtaking scenery there | | | | ever more impressive techniques and create |
| is very little that can compare to a snow | | | | ever more spectacular pieces to display. |
| covered landscape. The snow dulls sounds so | | | | Heilongjiang is an ideal region to host an |
| that everything is quieter than it normally | | | | ice and snow festival as the climate is very |
| is, nothing much ventures out in the cold so | | | | cold and there is no shortage of snow. |
| everything is still and calm. A feeling of | | | | |
| peace and tranquillity seems to fall with the | | | | The Annual World Ice Art Championships has |
| snow and settle over the region like a | | | | taken place in Fairbanks, Alaska since 1989. |
| protective, mood tempering blanket. Adults | | | | The event is organised and run by volunteers, |
| become children again, throwing snowballs and | | | | which makes it rather unique in the world of |
| making the occasional snow angel in a deep | | | | ice art championships. Roughly 100 artists |
| snowdrift. Everyone becomes an artist, | | | | from around the world attend enter the |
| expressing themselves through the creation of | | | | competition every year. There are two main |
| elaborate snowmen. You also get the real | | | | categories: single block and multi-block. |
| winter artists, the ones who thrive in the | | | | Each category is then sub-divided into 2 more |
| cold and whose creations will never be | | | | categories: abstract and realistic |
| treasured in any museum simply because the | | | | sculptures. |
| medium doesn't last long enough. Ice | | | | |
| sculptors are being taken more and more | | | | On the Japanese island Hokkaido; the city |
| seriously as artists, as the complexity of | | | | Sapporo is famous for its winter carnival |
| the art becomes better known and it gains | | | | where teams compete to create the best ice |
| more recognition internationally. | | | | sculptures. The designs get very creative and |
| | | | elaborate, some even reaching the size of |
| China and Japan both have long traditions of | | | | multi-storey buildings. |
| ice sculpting. They are 2 countries that for | | | | |
| millennia have had a reputation for valuing | | | | Ice hotels used to be novelties, now they are |
| art and beauty so it is no real surprise that | | | | becoming popular and regular destinations for |
| they have been appreciating the magnificence | | | | tourists in several cold countries. Sweden is |
| of ice far longer than any other cultures in | | | | believed to have started the trend, however, |
| the world. The art is so valued in Japan that | | | | with its Ice Hotel in Kiruna. It began in |
| it makes the best ice chisels. Ice chisels | | | | 1989 and has been widely advertised through |
| are specially designed to work on ice and are | | | | all media. The only things in the hotel that |
| extremely sharp. Other tools used in ice | | | | are not made of ice are the beds. There are |
| sculpting include: electric chainsaws, angle | | | | 60 rooms and suites, a bar, reception area |
| grinders, heat guns, torches and a plain old | | | | and even a chapel. It is only open between |
| household iron. How you use these tools and | | | | the months of November and May when the |
| how many of these tools you use will depend | | | | weather is at it's coldest. |
| on the size of the sculpture and its design. | | | | |
| The toys involved certainly are fun, though | | | | One country that you would not normally |
| you want to be careful and not accidentally | | | | associate with ice sculpting is Ireland. It |
| take your own leg off in all the artistic | | | | is not known as an ice and snow covered |
| excitement. | | | | landscape. It is not defined by freezing |
| | | | temperatures and long winters. Yet it has |
| Ice sculpting is a fairly complicated and | | | | some of the world's most well respected ice |
| scientific art. Not just any old piece of ice | | | | sculptors who have won the International Ice |
| will do. The blocks of ice used are carefully | | | | Sculpture Festival, Jelgava, Latvia for two |
| chosen for their suitability. Sculpting ice | | | | years in a row. Not bad going for a country |
| must be made from pure, clean water so that | | | | of shamrocks and leprechauns. |
| it will be as transparent as possible and | | | | |
| have the absolute minimum of air bubbles. The | | | | Ice sculpting is more popular in the Northern |
| sculpting environment is equally important. | | | | Hemisphere largely because there is not a |
| If the temperature is not that cold then the | | | | great deal of snow in Australia and Africa, |
| sculptor will have to work quickly to finish | | | | even in the depths of winter. South America |
| it. In cases like that it is more efficient | | | | is very similar. The southern continents are |
| to use power tools as much as possible. | | | | not close enough to the Antarctic to get very |
| | | | cold winters and snow. They have to rely on |
| There are several ice sculpting competitions | | | | machines to make ice blocks big enough for |
| and demonstrations held all over the world | | | | their artists to work with. They also have to |
| where artists and amateurs are given a chance | | | | keep the finished pieces in specially cooled |
| to display their skills. | | | | rooms so that they don't melt immediately |
| | | | because the warm climates simply aren't |
| Heilongjiang Province, in China, hosts the | | | | conducive to the durability of the works of |
| increasingly famous International Ice and | | | | art. The people are fine appreciators of ice |
| Snow Sculpture Festival, which is held once a | | | | sculptures though, and whenever an |
| year in Harbin. As the festival's popularity | | | | opportunity comes around for them to see some |
| has increased, so has its size. It attracts | | | | art, they are always there in droves. |
| more talented artists every year, who display | | | | |