I was back in Davos, Switzerland for the 2016 Iglu-Dorf hotel. Back to a project where just two sculptors, Martijn Smits and myself have to design a decorate a whole igloo hotel in just two weeks. There is also a group of around 6 technicians who build the igloos and do all the other tasks but Martijn and I are just given a blank slate and a theme and with a deadline of Christmas day we carve every detail.
There are usually around 14 rooms, a bar and some restaurants. With one special room being a suite with a Jacuzzi and toilet.
It always feels like an adventure and we have coined the term ' Frustrating fun' to describe it. We work 12-hour days and the weather is always changing, creating different challenges that we just have to get through.
A new year and a new theme
I usually like the themes we get as they give a certain amount of artist freedom which helps make the job creatively stimulating but this year I wasn't too fond of it and I can see it in our work. The theme was the USA. I remember not being too excited about it. Sorry to my US readers.
Maybe, it was because I am too familiar with the subject that I just wasn't enthused. I like to bury my head in a subject and use it as an educational experience. With such a cultural behemoth as the US I just felt it was going to be 'Paint by numbers'. I probably would feel the same if the theme was Ireland.
But look at that view. This is from the window of the ski lift station where I stay for the two weeks. Down there you can see the Igloos as the sun rises over the mountains. It feels like being on top of the world looking down on Mordor. We are above the clouds with Davos deep down in the valley.
We started in the restaurants. The photos are all of my own work, I may do a future post down the line with everything together including Martijn's work but for now, it is all about me, me, me. He had arrived a few days earlier so, I only had one of the restaurant rooms to do and to fit in with the sub-theme that the bar would have of The Desert I did some buzzards sitting on a tree. It was a good warm-up both sculpture-wise and also heat-wise as it can be very cold in that area due to the open doors while they are still building.
Camping
Deeper into the complex I started my first bedroom. Although this was still snow it felt a bit cosier. It was nice to be out of the freezing wind and away from the sound of machinery.
Being such a big country The US has some great nature and wilderness. My first bedroom was a little campsite with fire and wild animals poking out from behind trees. The lighting guys were going to put a flickering LED in the fire to add to the ambience but unfortunately, I left before all that was done.
I think I would have liked to sleep in this room. But after a hard day's work in the snow, I am always happy to have a warm bed.
Road trip
I have visited the Americas a few times and one of the first things I realised was that it is a car country. I remember asking for directions to a shop in Fort Lauderdale and was told it is over there. I started walking and spent my day walking in that direction. Luckily in the evening time and after arriving at the shop, I was able to get a lift back to town.
For this second room, I carved a garage or filling station as the locals call it with a VW minibus. We had one of these when I was growing up. Such a cool Van.
Carving in the concave surface of the igloos can be very difficult to get any form to pop out as you really need to remove a lot of snow around what you are carving, I was happy with how this turned out because even though it was quite a relief it does look 3 Dimensional.
The Big Apple
Sometimes simple is best. A very quick room so I could keep on schedule but also one of my favourites. A simple apple as a frame and a view of looking up at the stalagmite-like buildings. I have never made it to New York but I can imagine it being like another country within the country.
Horse Country
I have a few family members who work in Kentucky with the horses and I had the pleasure once of visiting them there. I really liked it with its rolling hills and great outdoors.
For this room, I went with some Mustangs running in a cloud of dust. The dust was a great excuse to keep me on time as when I thought I had enough horse body parts I could just hide the rest with a cloud as I ran out of time.
Las Vegas
For the Suite, we thought Los Vegas would be a good choice. The snow quality in this room was awful and it felt like trying to carve popcorn. Visually It wasn't too interesting with a big Elvis-like character hovering over the bed (He was actually an Elvis impersonator). A Few other elements were carved in but due to the snow being so bad I found it frustrating to make anything beautiful. I made some leaded glass panels to look like windows in a wedding chapel and these would get some coloured lights later.
A slot machine was at the end of the bed with three roses frozen into ice as the wheels.
I looked pretty rough but I hoped the lighting guys could dress it up to look better. I also left the Technicians to finish the bed because I needed to meet Martijn in the bar.
Bar
We only had a few days left of me being onsite. Marijn always stays a bit longer to do the finishing up of ice elements. The place is open to the public at that time and he talks them through the process and gives a little demonstration. I usually fly home with Santa as I like to be home for Christmas.
The bar was a collection of Catus forms and a simple desert landscape. I like the simplicity. The final lighting would cast shadows which would create all the rest of the detail.
As years go it was probably not our best although there was a lot to see. For me, I didn't really feel inspired to make what I thought was pushing the envelope of snow sculpture or myself. There were elements that I liked but it wasn't the most memorable of years on the mountain. Although, by all accounts, the public was happy with their experience.
Ps
Thanks for reading. I use PeakD to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor of sand, snow and ice, amongst other things. This will hopefully give it a new life on the Hive Blockchain. Below you will find some of my recent posts.
Purple haze - ice sculpture
Falling on the flag - sand sculpture
Record attempt Oberhausen - sand sculpture
I hope you'll join me again soon
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I am also starting to create NFTs of my sculptures and welcome you to my gallery where you can own a bit of ephemeral sculpture history.