WINNIPEG — Ecuador, the Netherlands and France aren’t exactly places that remind you of winter; but the artists from these countries that create the popular snow sculptures at Festival du Voyageur can’t get enough of it.
“The snow, is perfect here. Most events it melts. And the people they come out even when its cold,” Bob Fulks, sculptor from Detroit, Michigan said.
MAP: Festival du Voyageur snow sculptures around Winnipeg
The International Snow Symposium has been bringing sculptors from around the world together at Festival for 22 years. The pieces of art are certainly some of the most recognized symbols of the event.
“Outside, this makes the park really beautiful, as well as the embellishment pieces you see all over Winnipeg right now,” Gary Tessier one of the co-founders said. Some of these artists come from far away places where they don’t even have snow. But they say that snow is one of the easiest materials to work with.
“Snow is fantastic. There’s not another medium in the world where you can make pieces that are so big, in such a short amount of time,” Tessier said.
And even though the temperatures were reaching -40 Celsius with the windchill on Friday, the artists say it’s worth the experience.
“Winnipeg, great city. I love the voyaguer festival is beautiful. You meet a lot of people, they talk to you, they’re very open,” Don Kalle from the Netherlands said.
And Winnipeggers appreciate all of their hard work.