Kiwis carve out cool frozen art
Tatiana Zimina has recently returned from northeast China where she competed in ice and snow sculpting with her partner and two friends.
They were the only New Zealanders to compete in the annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival.
The West Auckland resident said each ice block was harvested from a natural river or lake.
‘‘The carving technique is similar to wood but softer. It also chips.’’
To start with the carvers use power tools – a chainsaw and a router.
‘‘The final stages are done by chisels that have teeth in them so you can remove larger pieces of the material.
‘‘You have to create something to the best of your ability given the time constraints of two and a half days.
‘‘We had two teams in ice sculpting this year, of two people each. My team created a sculpture called Tu¯ ı¯ on New Zealand Flax.
‘‘We wanted to pick a scene that had something to tell about the beautiful New Zealand nature.
‘‘Our other team made a sculpture of the legend of Ma¯ ui catching a taniwha. That one was a bit experimental as the sea creature was carved concave on the back of the sculpture.’’
For the snow sculpting the two teams combined because it was a larger block. Their sculpture was of a mother and baby whale.
‘‘The snow is compressed, so you can’t add on to it – it’s not like making a snowman. It’s very cold and it feels like the snow is dry.
‘‘As a substance it is nearly crumbly. It’s really easy to carve and you have to be careful not to remove too much volume to start.
‘‘The rules also don’t allow any power tools, so we use a chisel, and when I say chisel – they are quite big, with long handles. Some of the tools are made specially for the piece of work.’’
Zimina said she started out in the icy art sector about 15 years ago. ‘‘My first experience with it was in my hometown in Khabarovsk, Russia, before I moved to New Zealand 13 years ago.
‘‘In New Zealand the only opportunity was to go overseas to China to compete. This was my third time to go to Harbin. It’s creating something big and spectacular and working with materials that are quite unique.’’
Describing the things that can go wrong, Zimina said: ‘‘You can’t start again.
‘‘We have been quite lucky though as I have seen some other teams’ snow sculptures break – and it is heart breaking.
‘‘With ice it is a little bit easier, as you can freeze it back together.’’
Zimina said it was fun to work on the sculpture itself at the Harbin festival, and it was very spectacular to be in the place.
‘‘I think the most satisfying thing is producing a large sculpture in a short time.
There are also the massive structures that they build for that festival alone and it is something that needs to be experienced to be believed. It looks beautiful with ice and the illumination at night.
‘‘The competition is a creative hub. There’s a lot of fun in interacting with other artists.’’