the value of competition to the art of ice sculpting

At any rate, what should be the focus of an ice sculpting organization is probably a never ending argument. You certainly can’t make everyone happy. From my point of view, I believe that competitions are a very important part of ice sculpting since they yield tangible benefits, almost by accident. Whatever can be done to hold more and better events should be done, because it’s good for ice sculpting in general. The value of competition should not be underestimated.

To start with, competitions push carvers to new heights and encourage innovation. Competitions also expose this innovation to public view. Notwithstanding one sculptor’s attempts to keep his techniques secret by carving inside a tent at one event, many useful innovations made their pubic debut in competitions.

Two prime examples of competition innovation are aluminum welding and the ice lathe. Many ice sculptors first found out about aluminum welding when Mike Palombo used the technique at a National Championships. I can’t recall if he or Erik Cantine first used it at another event, but that’s what sticks out in my mind. Aaron Costic’s primitive lathe showed up at another event and quickly made its mark. Lathes are rarely used in competition now (in many competitions, they’re against the rules), but they’ve become a essential tools for high tech ice sculpting companies.

Competitions also bring carvers together from around the country and occasionally, the world. Sometimes there are bad feelings, but this isn’t the norm. More often, a nice camaraderie develops from the shared, challenging experience. You also get to meet people that before, you only heard about.

Some of the talented carvers that I only met because I was at a competition include Junichi Nakamura, Maurie Pearson, Kevin Roscoe, Peter Slavin, Naomi Hamamura, Steve Brice, Heather Brice, Dean Carlson, and on and on and on. Without competitions or some kind of similar gathering, I never would have met these people and never would have gotten an opportunity to learn from them. Many carvers work nearly by themselves, often isolated in a freezer. I feel the interaction offered by competitions or seminars is vital to grow as an artist and as a person.

Finally, competitions sometimes result in fantastic ice sculptures that can inspire carvers for many years after they have melted. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked at photos of the Thor sculpture created by Mark Daukas and Scott Rella at the Olympic event in Hamar, Norway. I even taped a copy of it to the front of a small sketchbook to inspire me.

More recently, one of my favorite ice sculpting books is by Junichi Nakamura and it’s full of amazing ice sculptures that make me want to get back in the freezer to see what I can do. I think the ability to motivate and inspire is a major value of competition. Maybe someday someone will look to one of my competition sculptures for inspiration.