I had a chance to scan some more photos in, so I’ve added a few more to this gallery and a little more information. Eventually, there will be at least two galleries of photos from the ice carving event at the 2002 Cultural Olympic Arts Festival in Provo, Utah. In addition to these pictures, Louis Manzoni also took some great photos and he gave me permission to post them. I would have posted them long ago, except that I misplaced his cd when I moved my office. Look for Louis’ photos in an upcoming entry.

    Despite the fact that the 2002 Olympic event was almost certainly the most impressive assemblage of world class ice carvers that have ever come together to compete anywhere in the lower 48 states, you probably haven’t seen many photos from this event. This competition was an overnight event and ended in the middle of the day. Once the competition was over and the sunscreens were taken down, the sun and the unseasonably warm temperatures immediately started to tear the delicate sculptures apart. Many of these sculptures didn’t survive long enough to be properly photographed. If they did, then the ice may have already turned gray or even white from sun damage. The poor sculpture condition, combined with the challenging backgrounds (there were no backdrops and the carving sites were in a sort of park and facing all directions) meant that superior photos of finished sculptures were hard to come by. It’s hard to think of a single sculpture from this event that really became “immortal,” meaning that photos of it were widely circulated and shared so that the sculpture lived on. In contrast, lots of sculptures from the World Ice Art Championships have achieved this immortality because of the combination of high sculpture quality, good backgrounds, and ample time to get photos in good lighting conditions (i.e., at night or during the golden hours near dusk and dawn)

    Here are the latest additions and look for more soon!