MOUNTAINEERING NEWS ITEM

Ice Sculpting at NZ Mountain Film Festival

THURSDAY, 22 MAY 2008

Organizers of the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival are calling for sculptors to sharpen their tools and unleash their creative flair for the inaugural Wanaka Ice Art Championships this July.

Individuals or teams of up to four will be given blocks of ice to transform into winter masterpieces for the opening night of the five-day festival. The sculptured work will remain on display at the Lake Wanaka Centre for festival-goers and the general public to enjoy, ‘natural ice melt’ permitting.

Festival director Mark Sedon would like to encourage sculptors, carpenters, artists or even groups of friends to start designing their works of art and enter. “This is a new fun component of the festival and it would be great to see people giving it a go. We have the perfect alpine setting to inspire and craft ice artwork, it’s great to witness teams transforming a block of ice into transiently imaginative works,” he said.

Each team will be given a block of ice, 100cm x 50cm x 40cm to carve out their pre-prepared design. Sculptures need to be based on clearly recognizable objects or beings, whether real or imaginary, in line with the festival theme of adventurous sports and lifestyles.

The finished works will be judged on technical and artistic criteria by a jury of local personalities. Points will be awarded for accuracy, proportional aspects of the sculpted work, degree of difficulty, creativity, and composition of work. Teams are encouraged to select appropriate color and placement of lights for the final display.

The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on Friday, July 4, with a first place prize of $500 cash and special prizes also to be awarded.

Entrants should contact event organizers now to register their interest. Entry fees and designs must be submitted by June 25. The competition starts at 9am on Friday, July 4 and ends at 7pm when judging gets underway. The competition will run subject to a minimum number of three entries and a maximum of 10.

The New Zealand Mountain Film Festival which will run from July 4 to 8 also features over 40 screenings of adventure and environmental films, speaker platforms, photographic exhibitions, and a gear trade show. Tickets go on sale at the beginning of June. For more information on the ice sculpting competition and the festival, see www.mountainfilm.net.nz.

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