Initially, ice-sculpture making started as a kitchen skill and was taught by culinary schools.
Things have clearly changed since then and every year, various countries from all around world host many festivals and celebrations where ice and snow play a central role. If you are an art enthusiast, you may book flights for any of these three destinations to check out this art form.
Ice Music Festival – Norway (21st -24th January 2016)
Anyone expecting ice-sculptures at the festival is in for some surprise. Every year, the festival is held at Geilo and the sculptors at the Ice Music Festival craft different instruments such as guitars, harps, violin, drums, percussions and various other instruments, which apart from looking beautiful can also play certain tunes. Musicians from all around the world come and gather between Bergen and Oslo on the first full moon of the year (Gregorian).
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival –Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
(31st December– 1st February 2016)
Harbin, situated in the north-eastern region of China, hosts one of the world’s the biggest ice festivals. Sculptors from all around the globe have been competing with each other every year since 1963, to create the most outlandish and the largest ice art in the world. The ice blocks are carved out from the Songhua River and are set before the ice-sculptors, who use different tools such as chisels, saws, and picks to create colossal animal, plants and mythical creatures. The festival is officially going to open on the 5th of January, though if the weather is favourable, it might commence earlier.
London Ice Sculpting Festival –London, England
(January 2016)
The English winter is apt for hosting the London Ice Festival. Situated adjacent to the Canary Wharf tube station, the festival is perhaps one of the most fitting and convenient of all the ice festivals in the world. The competition consists of eight teams from all across the globe competing with each other for a time-span of two days to create some of the most intricate, detailed, and beautiful ice-masterpieces. If you want to learn ice-sculpting, you may join the ice-sculpting classes. Around that time, Montgomery Square will be transformed into a snow pit for the kids to play with snow and make artworks such as snow angels, snow castles, and snowmen.
