[Portfolio] Art for the Moment: Fairbanks Ice Festival 2017, 2014, 2013, 2012

[Øivind Tøien]

The yearly Fairbanks Ice Festival and World Ice Art Championships is on until the end of March. http://www.icealaska.com. While most of the credit goes to the ice carving artists, I nevertheless find photographing it a joyful challenge. White lights are on until judgement is finished and then colored lights are allowed full  play. Getting the best out of the ice sculptures is not always easy; there are so many possibilities depending how light fall through the sculptures, and some lends them self to being captured by the camera better than others. It is also highly motivating knowing that the only way for this art to live on is though the images captured. I will begin with showing this years ice festival.

2017 Multi block competition:

Chinese Artist Leisure Boat
#1



Sun Voyager
#2



#3



March Madness won a well deserved first price in the realistic category. Among the artists are Heather and Steve Bryce who runs the ice museum at Chena Hot Springs close to Fairbanks.
#4



Sometimes the details are difficult to capture a single frame of the whole work and need a closer look - these ones are pretty amazing.
#5



#6



Baby Fun
#7



Dreaming Spirit  2nd place abstract.
#8



Kabuki Theater: Spirit Of The Samurai got second place in realistic.
#9



Next I will continue with this years single block competition.

[Øivind Tøien]

The ice sculptures seem to last very well this year; we have had March temperatures generally 5-10°C below normal and in spite of intense solar radiation no thawing in the day. Be advised to bring very warm clothing if you ever plan to attend this event; evenings almost always get very cold down in this low area, even if it is warm in the day.

2017 Single block competition:

Sting, the giant bee looked good from the rear side.
#10



Microcosmos - a closer look at all the microbes that reigns below ground. One of the artists, Ina Timling is a biology colleague of mine.
#11



In The Weeds
#12



Chained Evolution
#13



The lighting was particularly well planned on this one and it was interesting how colors changed and dispersed with the viewing angle.
#14



Flying spirit
#15



In addition to the art in the contests there is a tradition for a number of exhibition pieces around the grounds.
The nearly life size train station was particularly well done and deserves a couple of views.
#16


The train has arrived and is waiting.
#17



A few of the pieces are yearly traditions. One is the maze shown in the impressionistic thread, http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,5275.120.html.
Another are the slides, the bigger one shown here.
#18



While all of this will be mostly gone in a month, leaving the exhibition grounds for this time, it will all go on living in my dreams:
#19

[Hugh_3170]

Øivind, your multi-block ice images were so nice for me to view today in what was a 32 Deg. C. day until the heavens opened up only a few minutes ago.  As you say, photographs are the only way to preserve this kind of art.

Nice work - I shall certainly look forward to your single block series in due course.

Edit: Our postings crossed!

Ditto the second series.

[Akira]

Amazing ice sculptures!

The freezing climate should be greatly advantageous, but the chosen concepts and executions are all marvelous.  Very inspired.

And, needless to say, the works are beautifully captured.  Thanks for sharing, Øivind!

[Thomas Stellwag]

amazing pictures of amazing art

[armando_m]

Most incredible sculptures  !
Seems the lights are inside the Ice sculptures ?
A very nice series, thanks for sharing this Øivind

[golunvolo]

That is nuts 

   Good nuts

  Impressive works and captures. Loved the maze too by the way.

  Thanks  Øivind!

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks for commenting all of you, I am glad the images were to enjoyment. (Keep watching, more images to come from previous years).

The lights are not in the sculptures; I had to place myself carefully to have the lights shine though the ice without too many of them distracting the image by shining right into the lens. The exceptions are the slides which have lights inside that keeps changing. They even use to have sensors at the slides so that the lights change when you slide down. I am a little unsure about the train, however there might just have been a row of lights behind the train.

[Øivind Tøien]

Next in this series is the Ice Festival 2014.

I missed out a couple of years of various reasons, among those warm weather and too early melting. In 2014 I was also late to the game, in fact on this day March 30, which is normally the next last open day and many of the multi-block entries were in a poor shape as they are more exposed.

Multi block entries:


Gone With The Wind.
#1



Blessing Of The Horse Year.
#2



Maidens Of Birch Tree won 1st price realistic:
#3



Adventure book
#4



Single block entries

 Face A Fear, To Be Set In The Clear received a lot of my attention (as a physiologist  )  due to the unique incorporation of "arteries" and "heart" in the sculpture. Lots of alien stuff here:
#5



#6



#7



Viral was presented by my colleague Ina Timbling's team and shows a bursting cell with lots of viruses escaping. Unfortunately it was somewhat melted so not in tip top shape. I guess one could say the virus attack had worked its way on the cell.
#8



Love in motion. (Some rings had melted on this one.)
#9



Conformity (one horn and chains have melted)
#10



Brick House.
#11



The Sceond Brain
#12




Before leaving we also have to take a look at another tradition in the exhibitions, the log cabin.
#13



Then take a trip in the slide again, this is the smaller one:
#14



At then end it is closing time and the lights go off. I usually hang around as long as I can and have not encountered problems getting out even long after official closing time. It is also nice and quit then with only a few visitors doing the the same.

What isn't more appropriate then than to capture half melted multi-block entry  The Last Dance in the moonlight before leaving.
#15

[John Geerts]

Superb series, Øivind.  Full of detail and colour. And what a great creativity with the sculptors.

What combo did you use?

[Øivind Tøien]

Superb series, Øivind.  Full of detail and colour. And what a great creativity with the sculptors.

What combo did you use?

Thanks John. In 2014 the camera body was my D5100. All the wide shots were with Nikon 12-24mm, usually stopped down to the f/8-f/11 range. The medium close "arterial alien" was captured with 50mm f/1.8G @ f/8 and the closeup with 105mm f/2.5 AIS @ f/8. In the captures from this year all the wide shots were with 12-24mm on D7100, while the closeups were captured with the 105mm. It is possible that the increased presence of crystals in the ice in 2014 due to high temperatures might have helped with respect to the lighting.

I added an image from inside the cabin in the impressionistic thread (also with 12-24mm). http://nikongear.net/revival/index.php/topic,5275.new.html#new

[Akira]

The sculptures from 2014 blow the ones from 2017 away!  Not really because of the lighting, but because of the participants of higher skills.  Your D5100 did admirable job in the hands of a skilled photographer, too!

[Øivind Tøien]

Thanks Akira, that is some interesting considerations. I felt that much of the works this year had a lot of small intricate details that would often get lost when captured. It could also be my skills in selecting what to photograph was better in 2014. We will see how the trend goes when I go further back.

[Akira]

Øivind, the work that won the first prize for 2017 is indeed beautifully elaborate (the fungus? and the table set, well documented by you).  Also, I love the concept of "Microcosmos" with which your college involved.

That said, I have the impression that the sculptures from 2014 (so far as the depicted ones are concerned) in general look superior in terms of overall balance and proportion, which should be important aspect of art.

[Øivind Tøien]

I think what can be the case (similar to photography) is that there is both a component of technical brilliance in execution vs. artistic planning of the sculptures (of course these are not mutually exclusive). Both are likely merited when the ice sculptures are judged. However it may be that one year the trend among the artists tips more to one side and another to the other.