Winterlude 2012...

[fajrdrako]

On Saturday after French class I wandered over to Confederation Park to see the Winterlude ice sculptures. I used to be downtown a lot in the winter; the last few days, not so much, so I've missed the ice sculptures. Some years it was just too cold. Last year, I went down the day after the ice sculptures had been unveiled, and it was too warm, and they'd melted into puddles.

A pity, since some years they've been magnificent. And I thought: If I were an internationally renounced ice sculptor, I wouldn't want to exhibit my work here if it's just going to melt in hours.

I guess the internationally renowned ice scuptors thought the same, because they weren't there this year. It was perfect weather: quite cold enough to keep them intact, but not so cold as to be uncomfortable; sunny and bright so the ice glittered in the sun.

And they were the tiniest, simplest, most pathetic ice sculptures I've ever seen in our Winterlude show. What a disappointment. What a letdown.

In compensation they had... things... set up like sculptures that weren't made of ice. Like a pyramid of winter mittens. Hockey sticks and ice skates made to look like winter trees. Clever, yes... but not really artistic to my eyes.

Here, see for yourself:



1. An ice wolf bays at the moon
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2. Ice Stag
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3. Ice... thing. Eagle-squid-scorpion? What is that?

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4. Ice birds

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5. Howling wolves of many colours

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6. Sleeping wolves of many colours - I wonder what the coloured wolves were made of?

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6. Pyramid of mittens. - Or maybe it was just a heap.

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6. Trees made of hockey sticks and skates - I think this looked marginally better in reality than in the photo.

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And the old classic:



7. Skating on the Rideau Canal

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