ICE-SCULPTING FESTIVAL

 

I attended London’s first Ice-Sculpting Festival which ran from 9-11 January and took place outside the National History Museum. I went on the last day, Sunday 11th.

Giant blocks of ice, weighing around 2 tons each, were sawn and chiselled into works of art that interpreted the theme “wildlife in the city” by ice-sculpting teams from Britain, France, Italy, Holland and Bulgaria.

As reported in The Daily Mail, the festival was the brainchild of freelance art critic Carol Cordrey, who saw a snow-scultping competition on holiday in Switzerland.

The Dutch team of two, Lars Borst and Marjon Katerbergtook, took first prize in the contest for their depiction of a woman peeling a flower. 

Other entries included a giant pigeon by the British team, two sharks holding a bag of money (representing the city) by the French team, a woman in the ice by the Bulgarian team, and worker ants by the Italian team.

During the three days of the festival, patrons were also invited to learn to sculpt themselves – which, of course, I did: