Thursday, October 31, 2013
The Art of Sculpting Ice
Tested: Steve Cox and Son Justin of Creative Ice, a Seattle Ice Sculpting company, transform big blocks of ice into detailed pieces of art for clients like the Seattle Mariners and REI. Their tools: chainsaws, picks, mills, rotary cutters, and even CNC robots.
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18 comments:
Their work is incredible. I expected them to be working in some type of chilled workshop but I was surprised to see the garage door open. I wonder if that is how they always work or if they close it during warmer parts of the year. Although ice isn't really a material used in theatre, this article opens up the idea of doing performance in maybe an ice hotel or another environment where this could be possible, such as an ice rink.
I don't know why I am ever surprised to see someone working with a new or different medium. I'm always baffled by the innovative or impressive modes of art people use, but looking at this I am reminded that one can use whatever medium they really want and truly make a work of art. I am glad that there are people out in the world using things like ice to do what brings them the most joy and I look forward to the next impressive medium. I always knew ice sculptures were could be made but I never really thought about them as a real sculpting material. After watching that I am very impressed with the use of tools and machinery.
As beautiful as the ice sculpted with the CNC machine was, I was far more impressed with the work that these men did themselves, by hand, using different and specialized tools. I hope that the increasing use of tools like the CNC machine doesn't put these guys out of business- their skills were obvious from the short clips that were shown, and it would be a shame to replace that with mechanical precision. I'm sure it will be a while before the sculpture shown last in the video can be made with a machine- it is so organic and artistic that while a machine might be able to come close it would not be able to get the spirit of the sculpture. It was interesting to see the range of things that these men made- from very precise things, like the sports team logo and the clock in the background of one of the shots, to sculptural and artistic things like the starfish.
I have always found ice sculpting to be somewhat otherworldly especially before I really got into theatre and art. I didn't understand how people could work and sculpt without it melting all over the place or even if a person did make it. Knowing what I know now, it is not incredibly surprising as to how they do it but it still is incredible and the outcomes are beautiful.
This is so amazing. For some reason sculpting things out of giant blocks of material. Ice seems like it would be a material that would be both incredibly unforgiving but also super flexible. I never knew about all of the different ways there was to sculpt ice. They used a lot of the same shop tools that people would use to sculpt wood. I think if i were an ice sculptor i would be so stressed out about the heat and cracking and it just seems like there is a ton of variables that could ruin what ever you were trying to sculpt. Not to mention that that art that you've just created will disappear one day and wont be around forever. Although i guess some might find that poetic or something.
This is awesome. In the past, I have seen some of sculpted ice at a big event, but I never considered how it was created. After watching this video, I am so amazed by how elaborate and meticulous work is this. Also,I agree with Alex because I was surprised how many similar tools as those in scene shop were used. It was really interest to look at CNC robots operating to cut out details. Before this, I have not really thought sculpting ice to be a part of artwork, but this made me think it that way now. I think the importance in sculpting ice is timing, because an art piece should be completed before it starts to melt. I was also surprised to see how quickly they sculpt the ice without any sketch. When I draw of sculpt something, I usually need some kind of drawing before start to sculpt, but these guys do not. I think it is really cool to see how different medium is used to create an art and I want to see more medium being used to create an artwork in the future.
I love the way they used heat or heated tools to sculpt the ice. Any time I imagine ice sculptors, I imagine them going at it with an ice pick. However, it was such a simple and almost obvious way of forming the ice that it took me by surprise. This video was beautifully shot, however I would have loved to hear the sculptors talk about their work and technique.
Ice sculptures have actually been a sort of fascination for me ever since I was a kid. They seemed so majestic, and yet they would only last for a small amount of time before their beauty would literally melt away. Their work is incredible, and they use the same tools we do in the shop as if they were just carving out wood. I guess in a way, carving in ice is much like carving in wood. Once the piece/layer is gone, then it is gone and there's no putting it back. It'd be interesting to do a study between the methods and work put into each of those and compare them.
Ice sculpture requires massive skills because as Alex said, this medium is very unforgiving. A: The space needs to be at a really low temperature so the sculpture doesn't melt. Since this company is in Seattle, I wasn't surprised that the garage door was open. B: I would think that ice is in a way like marble. If there is an air pocket or something within the block, the entire piece could shatter when carving. Like marble, if there is a vein in the slab, and the sculpture carves through the vein, the entire slab could crack. I saw a few shows about ice sculpture on the Discovery Channel when I was younger, and I was so amazed how a chainsaw could be used on such a fragile material. I know that there is a show called the Ice Brigade on the Food Channel Network, and from the photos I've seen, they also make incredible works of art. If anyone is interested, there are also Ice Hotels in Sweden and Quebec that are absolutely amazing!
This is really cool. I can't even imagine how difficult it must be to work with a medium that is slowly melting as you try and work with it. Seeing how detailed these sculptures are blows my mind considering they have to make them relatively fast. It's really nice to see people who have an interest in something unique and abstract turn it into their career. While I watched the video I was really impressed with how many different types of tools they used to shape the ice. This article reminds me how much cool art (no pun intended) there is in the world. If it weren't for people like ice sculptors then the world would never be as interesting.
I've always wondered how people carve ice. The work that these people do is really fantastic. I will say that this video made them look very heroic and it didn't say very much about the actually process, but it definitely got me interested and thinking. I'd like to know what each of those tools were, when exactly to use heat, and what exactly the colored liquid they were poring in the sculpture was and what it is for.
This was so cool. Ice sculpture is something I have always, always wanted to do. I have absolutely no idea where or how to go about doing it but it is definitely something that I will do one day. Now that I am thinking about it, I am not sure what exactly it is that draws my attention to it. I guess the fact that it is one of those types of art that you really just get one shot at before you have to start over is somehow appealing. Like extreme sports but its extreme art. Also I love how you can get so many different opacities with just ice and the fact that you are making something beautiful out of frozen water is pretty fantastic by it self. Also serious applause to whoever made that video. It was very clear and informative with just the right amount of information to get a point across. It was a great improvement from many of the videos i have clicked on today.
I had always pictured ice sculpting as something very graceful, but this video made it look SO much cooler! I never realized how many tools went into making a sculpture from ice and how similar it is to wood working (just with more melting). I loved to watch how the video made the process look like it was some sort of an extreme activity that was very manly and what-not. It was really cool to see ice sculpting from this point of view.
That video was amazing!! Lets just first talk about the video itself and how well done that was. So great nice video. Second lets talk about the work they do. The video made is seem AWESOME!!! I just blown away at what they were doing. CNC tech to do lettering and images. The ability they had with the chain saw and other tools!! I was thoroughly impressed.
This video does an excellent job showing the skill and craft that it takes to be a quality ice sculptor. I find it really interesting the range of tools that they use to achieve their results. I have seen ice sculpting done with the chainsaws chisels and torches before but the level of routers and the cnc machine they used kind of caught me off guard. i think its interesting that they range all the way from fairly primal hand tools all they way up to the cnc. It seems to be like us in theatre that they are taking the tools of a bunch of other professions and making them work for their purposes. when watching i was also wondering if the artists that make these ice sculptures ever get frustrated that the thing they have just spent so much time making will very easily melt into nothingness.
This video was fascinating and quite beautiful. I never knew that there were so many techniques when sculpting ice. Like all other types of sculpture, ice sculpting is an art form that comes with time and practice. However, working with this medium seems harder and comes with so many more constraints. I commend the artists who put time and money into this art form.
Wow, this is so amazing.
This reminds me a bit of Venetian glass work (especially Dale Chihuli).
Some artworks are just so elegant.
I wonder how you become a glasswork artist. And I also wonder what they do with the artwork they make? Do they sell it? How fast does it melt?
In addition, I think that the video was filmed so amazingly. It was just magical.
I've gotten to see ice sculptures be cut and made in the past, but I love how this video shows us the different machinery used to make more complex pieces. The sculptures I saw were being made with chainsaws and small jigsaws, so I enjoyed seeing larger machinery like the CNC machine being used. I wished the video had more of a focus on the people who create the sculptures and their interpretation of their work. However, it was still very interesting learning about the process.
Obviously, it must suck when your art is so impermanent. The video made me think of Andy Goldsworthy and his beautiful ice egg sculptures he makes. The egg sculptures just sit outside and eventually melt; perhaps the cathartic element of this is noteworthy. Anyway, I'd like to make an ice sculpture at some point in my life, and I'm glad I now know the tools they use to make these sculptures.
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