The Ukrainians have been added to your piggy Bank another win — this time our boys took the top prize at the prestigious international festival of snow sculpture World Snow Festival, which was held in the Swiss mountain village of Grindelwald. A team of four people — Bogdan Kutsevich, Alex Poda, Alex Kozak, and Jonathan Reiner — in four days, built out of blocks of snow a mystical cloak with a staff. “The theme of the contest was magic and here is our idea: the viewer should have the feeling that the magician has just left my stuff, and anyone can try, — told the “Today” Alexey Poda. Since many teams in various competitions doing sculpture in his signature style, we now joke that the next competition will make the pants, sweater or other style of coat.”
The first place. Our team processed 30 tons of snow in four days. Photo By A. Poda
In the normal life of 39-year-old Bogdan and 35-year-old Alex working with architects, Alex Kozak is engaged in advertising, and their Swiss friend Jonathan, PhD student-physicist. The team came four years ago and has participated in seven competitions in USA, China, Norway and other countries. According to children, the conditions are always the same: the team gets 25-30-ton cube spresovannoe of snow the size of 3.5 by 3.5 meters and four days to create the sculpture. “And there is as lucky — we used to have, there were stones and even bottles inside the cube. Because of the cube draw lots. Of the success depends on the location of the site with lighting. Because sunlight is of great importance — without it the sculpture is read and merged with the earth. In Grindelwald area was surrounded by mountain ranges at an altitude of 1000 meters, and the sun fell on it two hours a day. But to stand covered for a few months,” says Poda.
According to masters, the events are prepared in advance for 3-4 months before sending the organizers a sketch on a given topic and portfolio. “We make the model from clay and bringing it to the contest. Because of this, in the US we even had problems at the airport: we were going to make a sculpture in the form of palm, which stops the fist. It was supposed to symbolize the confrontation of Russia and Ukraine. The model I have done with myself, and it turned out to be life-size. Because every time the guards had to explain that it’s not a severed human hand in my suitcase, and the model for competition.”
In the warm time of the year, they hone their skills for competitions of sand sculptures and preparing to learn ice sculpture and not just snow. “Our goal is a competition for the design of the room in the famous ice hotel in Sweden. There will need to do all the furniture — from beds to cups” — said Hearth. According to him, in Ukraine they are the only team of this profile, and therefore have to follow the trends of foreign colleagues. “In the snow sculpture, there are three main areas: animism, for example, deer or bear out of snow in the United States, realism — genre scenes from the life and minimalism — the Germans make abstract sculptures with the use of high technology.”
The prize of spectator sympathies. It was received by a team from Italy. Photo By A. Poda
South Korea and Italy. At the competition this year was attended by ten countries: Slovenia, Switzerland, Britain, Ukraine, Italy, USA, Sweden, Estonia, South Korea, and the Netherlands. Second place in the final standings went to the team from South Korea, and the third snow sculptors from Italy. By the way, the last received the prize of spectator sympathies.
