Snow Sculpture in China

This isn't new, but I happened across a great post about the Harbin Snow and Ice Festival--filled with lots of photos.

There are snow sculptures such as the beautiful woman playing a flute (?) as well as sculptures carved from ice--including a full-sized ship you can walk upon!

The temperature in Harbin reaches forty below zero, both Fahrenheit and Celsius, and stays below freezing nearly half the year. This Chinese city is actually further north than notoriously cold Vladivostok, Russia, just 300 miles away. So what does one do here every winter? Hold an outdoor festival, of course! Rather than suffer the cold, the residents of Harbin celebrate it, with an annual festival of snow and ice sculptures and competitions. The festival officially runs from January 5 through February 15, but often opens a week early and runs into March, since it’s usually still cold enough. This is the amazing sculpture made of snow greeting visitors to the snow festival in 2003. ~R Todd King

Check out complete R Todd King's information: http://www.rtoddking.com/chinawin2003_hb_if.htm

Sculpture Goes Missing: Loveland Sculptor May Recreate Historic Work

Kirsten Kokkin is one of 5 artists selected as finalists in the Angel of Music competition. This competition is to be the artist selected to recreate a sculpture that was on the gravestie of American composer and pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869). The sculpture went missing in the 1950s.

How does a sculpture go missing? I guess someone must have really liked it. The marble angel was almost 5 feet tall. Also taken was the 6-1/2 foot tall marble pedestal. This is no small feat! I mean, it is not like you can just put that in your pocket!

In preparation for the new work, the pedestal has already been restored and an anitque wrought iron fence has been installed, along with greenery.

The sculpture competition is being put forth by a 501c(3) organizaion the Green-Wood Historic Fund. This organization conserves and restores the Brooklyn NY, Green-Wood Cemetery's endangered monuments. The cemetery is listed as a National Historic Landmark, is 171 years old and is the final resting place of many historical figures including Leonard Bernstein, Horace Greeley, FAO Schowartz, Samuel Morse and Boss Tweed.

Kirsten Kokkin is one of our talented local sculptors...who like most us moved here from somewhere else.

One of the things I really appreciate (dare I say "love"?) about living in Loveland, Colorado is our art community. Not just the artists, but how the community as a group embraces the arts.

We have beautiful sculptures all around the city, wonderful galleries and a fantastic museum. Kokkin's work has created quite a local controversy in the past when she created an exquisite piece, The Triangle, that was in the classical tradition, including the figures being nude. The piece ended up being relocated and can be seen in the Benson Sculpture Park.

Environmentally Friendly Art

Being environmentally friendly is important to a lot of industries.

For one artist, his steel sculpture which is petrochemical and VOC free, not only is environmentally friendly in and of itself, it symbolizes the changes made in the industry that commissioned the work.

Mark Leichliter took two years to create a 25 foot tall sculpture that represents classic symbols for electricity (lightning bolts) and water (rain drops). These two pieces now adorn the City of Loveland's Service Center--the home of the Water and Power departments.

The artist admits there were other options that would have been even more environmentally friendly, but they would not have stood up to the strenght and durability requirements that are also emblematic of water and power.

In addition to the sculptures, Xeriscape gardens will be planted and portland-cement-based stucco for finishing the walls that embrace the sculptures, all designed to lower the impact on the environment.

Cost of Oil Affects Sculpture

Whether you are an artist or art buyer, the price of oil could affect you. Not only will it cost you more in gasoline to get to the gallery, but it could drive up your costs to create, or purchase, your next piece.

Many sculptors use a casting technique. I won't go into detail on this now, that is a long article all by itself. Suffice it to say, this is how they are able to have more than one copy of the same piece, called an "edition". Some of the materials used in this process are petroleum-based and therefore are subject to the same sort of fluctuations that you experience when going to the pump for your automobile.

Large pieces, called "monumental sculptures" because they are, well, typically monuments, are generally purchased by corporations, museums or other large organizations which might not feel the pinch as much. At least not yet.

The smaller collector, who doesn't have a grant, a 1% fund or deep pockets, is usually purchasing smaller pieces. As prices go up on materials (not just the oil-based materials are going up) these smaller pieces will likely see an increase in price. This could drive sales down. This puts the artist into the tight spot of absorbing some (or all) of the increase in order to make sales.

There are some options that artists can use to help control costs, but sometimes the artist can't do much to control the cost of materials. You can't skimp on the raw materials! If the material is consumed during the process then it is just gone.

As an art buyer, be aware that the artist is not making money off these increases. These are raw material costs that he or she is incurring when making the finished product that you love.