Snow sculpting is a form of art, usually considered performance art as it’s very much like sculpting using ice or sand—mostly practiced outdoors and often seen by many.
You often see people use anything from just bare hands to shovels, hatchets, and saws, depending on the characteristics of ice. We’re talking about proper snow sculpting, though—building a simple snowman, on the other hand, doesn’t require more than just enthusiasm and manpower.
But in context, pro-level snow sculpting involves blocks of snow that span 6 to 15 feet (1.8 to 4.6 meters) on each side and weigh between 20 and 30 tons. That’s about 3 to 5 elephants in weight.
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Bored Panda got in touch with Ivan Nastić, an illustrator and calligrapher from Serbia who's passionate about fantasy characters and socially-engaged art, and the man behind this snowman, which is also featured in this article.
“I love the winter and the snow so much. The snow is so pure and serene, so my idea is to make something completely opposite out of it,” said Ivan about the inspiration behind his bloodily-spooky snowman. “My initial idea was to make something that will represent the year 2020, some kind of evil spirit snowman.”
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“I woke up and saw that a lot of snow fell during the night, so I just got dressed and ran out and started making the basis of the Snowman,” elaborated Ivan.
“While I was attaching the head onto the body the idea of a gaping mouth just appeared in my mind and I thought ‘that's it, the neighbors are gonna love this one.’”
“This particular Snowman didn't require anything special, so I didn't have to use any supports. The snow was just perfect for sculpting.”
Fun fact, some of the most amazing things have actually been created using snow (and any of its other counterparts, like ice). There’s the ice maze at the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, there’s the Hotel of Ice in Balea Lake, Romania, there’s the 'Mother Earth' sculpture in Quebec. The list goes on and on.
This is besides ice chapels, tombs, classic snow castles, and other structures built using what is essentially crystallized water.
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But sculpting doesn’t come easy, and even building a traditional snowman can become a bit of a challenge. And Ivan was no exception, as he explained:
“The most challenging part is the same for every snowman I made–finishing everything before the evening frost. When the temperature drops, the snow becomes powdery and impossible to work with, and I work alone so the ticking of the watch is what makes the adrenaline go.”
