Month: December 2008

BZTAT's Ice Adventure! Canton First Friday Ice-O-Rama

The planning for the ice sculpture is coming along! I have been watching You Tube videos of ice sculptors at work, so I am starting to get the idea of how these things are done. An idea. That’s it–an idea. Doing it for real, I am certain, is going to be a whole different matter.

I also have accumulated an assortment of tools. Yes, I have even procured a chainsaw. I am not certain I will use it, but I am getting some encouragement from folks who think I should give it a try. Crazy me, I have frozen a mini ice block in my freezer, and I hope to practice a bit before the event.

I have developed a design of a cat that has a decent silhouette profile, if I go the chainsaw route, but also can be chiseled into a relief sculpture if I opt out of the chainsaw approach. We shall see which direction I go. I have been envisioning a cat shape trapped in a 20″ X 40″ X 9.5″ block of ice, waiting for me to free it and allow it to come alive.

Watching the videos has given me great respect for ice artists. I am sure that my very primitive design will in no way come close to the mastery of some of these ice wizards. But it is fun to give something like this a try!

I hope that you will come out to the Canton First Friday Ice-O-Rama to see me and other artists at work! Stop in and see all the galleries and studios and enjoy dinner at one of the fine downtown restaurants. Downtown Canton–It’s a happening place!

Life is an Adventure!

BZTAT
Art Adventures Studios
www.artadventuresstudios.com

Canton First Friday Ice Sculpture–BZTAT's Latest Adventure


A couple of months ago, I received a letter from the Canton Special Improvement District about the January 2009 First Friday “Ice-O-Rama”. the letter asked me if I would be interested in carving an ice sculpture for the event. There was nothing compulsory about it–Just a simple inquiry. No was an acceptable answer.

But as I am often want to do, I said, “Sure! I can do that!”

Keep in mind that I am a capable artist, but my realm is typically 2-D. I am not a sculptor. I have never carved wood or stone or even plaster, for that matter. I am a painter.

Why do I get myself into these things???? There are times that I might be wise to abandon my motto, “Life is and adventure!”

Four days from now, I will be carving a block of ice at a very public event, outside of my studio, Art Adventures Studios, in the freezing cold, trying to make sure that my fingers do not succumb to power tools, and trying to avoid making a complete fool of myself. To prepare, I am doing a lot of research through Google and You Tube, to see how the pros do it. I am picking the brain of fellow artist and wood worker extraordinaire Kevin Anderson of Anderson Creative, who has gamely agreed to loan me some tools. I am hoping that I can do it without a chainsaw, the most common tool used by ice sculptors, because I have never used one of those before. We will see.

I have pulled off some incredible adventures before. If I can pull this one off, I guess there will be little that I cannot do. Stay tuned…