Ice Dreams

 Sculpture has a nearly irresistible lure to me. No seriously, I have to take a friend with me to museums to keep me from touching the statues on display. I learned this about myself in high school. We'd taken a field trip to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia and at the time they had several Roman pieces on loan from the Louvre. I'm not sure if I'd ever seen real sculpture before then and oh it was misery to leave the museum that day.

Sketch from ice carving at the University of Chicago

Since that time I've wanted to try my hand at sculpture. The artistry in sculpture leaves me breathless with awe over the skill and planning it must have taken. Still, because I know in part the artistry required and I think because it moves me so I've wanted to try. But the thing about traditional sculpture is that it's BIG and messy. Trying to sculpt just hasn't fit into my life for the past eight years, until today.

My ice angel when I stopped for the night

I'd been writing in a coffee shop on the University of Chicago campus when I looked out the window and saw people standing around blocks of ice. Well, naturally I stared out the window. When I realized that they were sculpting I stopped to make a quick sketch (above). Sketching meant looking at the place with focus and I realized that people were sculpting and leaving, and then others came to keep working.

By the time I finished a five or ten minute sketch I realized that it was an open event. I can hardly imagine how frantic I looked as I packed up my things and dashed outside. I was given a chisel, an ice pick, and a six pronged ice pick. A gentleman showed me basics for each tool and then I was alone.

All these years of wanting to attempt a sculpture and yet I had never considered what I wanted to sculpt. I asked the people working on either side of me if they had ever attempted such a feat. Neither had. So without further guidance I stared at the ice wondering what to attempt. The only thing that came into my mind was the words of Michelangelo that I had memorized as an undergraduate:

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

So I began with an angel. Can I just say that an angel is a pretty overwhelming first attempt? An ice sculpting company was providing the ice and tools and because I asked them, they gave me further instruction on how to chisel out faces and depict feathers. In all I only had about an hour to work before the company (and tools) left.

My angel doesn't look much like an angel, but I learned a great deal.  When I left I still had to walk a half mile home alone in the wind and snow with already numb toes, fingers, and face. Even so I felt more blessed and seen than I have in many days.