Fired up for another cool sculpture event
The weather isn’t the only thing heating up this weekend as a popular Fire & Ice Festival makes its return.
Despite temperatures being unseasonably mild, sculptors from Fire & Ice InDurham say the ice sculpture trail around Durham City will still make an impact.
This year’s festival will have a Heroes and Villains theme, and sculptors from Glacial Art have spent the past month crafting frosty figures from six tonnes of ice including Batman, Darth Vader, a firefighter complete with hose and running water, Wonder Woman, Grace Darling – and Ant and Dec, who won a local heroes people’s vote to be depicted in ice.
Mat Chaloner, who founded Glacial Art with fellow Sunderland University graduate Mat Foster, has crafted pieces for high-profile shows such as Game of Thrones and brands including Rolex and Gucci. But he says coming back to the North East is always a highlight of their year.
“We do a lot of these festivals but the Durham one is one of the biggest we do and it’s always great to come back. The sculptures get such a great response, especially from the kids,” he said.
The sculpture trail, which is lit by flames, will be in place from 10am today and tomorrow and is free to attend.
Mat added: “The sculptures will slowly melt during the course of the day and part of the beauty of working with ice is seeing it change shape. The sculptures will be outside for around 12 hours in total, and they’ll be absolutely fine, despite the mild weather.”
Asked about whether he was concerned about the rise in temperature, Adam Deathe, business engagement manager at Durham BID, said: “Many of these kind of sculptures are used at weddings and functions where they are inside and under lights all day so it’s no problem for them to be outside on a February afternoon.”