Okay, it’s not exactly snowing or icy here in California, but I wanted to share some ice carving pictures with you from one of my readers, Jana Phung.
The Art of Ice Carving
Did you know that many chefs who do fruit carving also do ice carving?
I haven’t tried ice carving myself, so I can’t promise to have video lessons on this anytime soon! But you can see what it involves by reading Jana’s guest post below.
Ice Carving on My Cruise to Mexico
I recently went on a cruise with my family from California to Mexico and got to witness an ice carving master in action.
Since I discovered Nita’s blog, I’ve been learning to recreate some of her beautiful fruit carving designs. Slowly, but surely!
I was hoping to see some fruit and vegetable carvings on my trip to show Nita. Unfortunately, I didn’t come across any except for this cute coconut monkey that kept tempting me to buy drinks:
One day on the ship, they announced that there would be an ice carving demonstration by one of the crew’s artists. I knew I had to be up front and center for this one!
The artist’s name was Jovito and he was from the Philippines. I was amazed by Jovito’s talent and how fast he was able to transform a rectangular block of ice into an incredible work of art.
Here are some photos capturing Jovito in action:
Jovito used a number of different tools that looked like small shovels. He initially used the larger scoop or shovel to chip away at the ice. Then he used a smaller tool to carve out some of the finer details in his ice sculpture.
There were two helpers around him to scoop up the ice chips and keep the working area as dry and clean as possible.
In the next two photos, you can see that Jovito lifted the block of ice so it was sitting up vertically. He used a large pair of metal tongs to do this.
We were all anxiously waiting to see what Jovito’s ice carving would end up looking like. Some kids called out, “It’s a ship!” or “I think it’s a whale!”
Any guesses yet to what the ice carving sculpture might be?
Within a short 30 minutes from when he started, Jovito was already putting the finishing touches on his ice carving. It was truly impressive to watch how fast he was able to do this!
Here is the completed sculpture- an American Indian Chief – from Jovito’s ice carving demonstration.
Jovito’s American Indian Chief Ice Carving
The announcer informed us that an ice carving like this could take an experienced artist approximately two hours. Jovito completed it in only half an hour and that’s why they call him a Master!
I got a chance to catch up with Jovito afterwards to let him know how much I appreciated his ice carving demonstration. He told me that he has been at his craft for 10 years. When I asked Jovito how he learned to carve so well, he smiled and said, “I don’t know, I just did it”.
I think that’s great advice. There’s no better way to learn something than by simply jumping in and doing it. Now I’m inspired to get back to my fruit carving!
Annual Ice Carving Events in My Hometown of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
I live in a city that is icy and snowy for almost half the year! So what can we do? We celebrate winter with a number of different festivals.
My hometown of Edmonton, Alberta holds an annual event in January called “Deep Freeze”, which features ice carving from talented local artists. In addition to the big ice carving competition, Deep Freeze is a weekend filled with fun winter activities such as curling, street hockey and ice skating.
Here are some photos from this year’s festival:
Ice Carving Sculpture by a local Edmonton Artist
This next artists puts the final touches on her dolphin ice carving before it gets judged:
Now here’s what the dolphin ice carving looks like when it is displayed at night time (photos by local photographer Tracey Kolenchuk).
Imagine walking along the street at night, surrounded by ice sculptures like this!
Thanks Nita for inviting to guest post and allowing me to share my passion for art on your wonderful blog!
Thanks for sharing that with us, Jana! It must have really fun to watch these ice sculptures being brought to life.
It’s really amazing what artists can create with such unique materials. Just check out my previous posts on different ways artists around the world have created their masterpieces using unconventional methods with a variety of foods!
Food Art – Chinese Sugar Painting
Food Landscapes by Carl Warner
To see more ice carving events around the globe, check out these posts from my blog:
Snow Festival in Sapporo, Japan | A Magical Event
Ice Carving | A Spectacular Event in China
Whether you chose to work with fruit, vegetables , sugar or ice, there’s always a way to create art. I hope you enjoyed the ice carving photos – let me know if you’re inspired to give it a try!
Excellent , Keep It Up !