Festival du Voyageur attracts world snow sculptors to Winnipeg

They came from opposite sides of the world to compete for international recognition.

A team from Whitehorse travelled more than2,500 kilometres. A team from Barcelona, travelled more than7000 kilometres, both meeting in Winnipeg to create art out of snow at Festival du Voyageur.

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Whitehorse artist, Adam Green calls it an addiction. Creating a piece of art out of a mass of snow in such a short period of time and then watching it disappear. And doing that in this Winnipeg weather? No problem, he said.

"I was in Dawson, a little further north, it was 50 C. That wason Friday, said Green. When I left Dawson, it was 46, drove to Whitehorse, it was 32. Then I came here. It's balmy, it's so nice.

That same sentiment was notcelebrated by the team from Spain.

"In Spain, when there's a little rain, or snow, all stops, you know, the life stops, said Eduard CasademontPrez, one of the artists from Barcelona. But here, no, you continue and go, go. It's good, I like it.

"If you don't do a festival or something like a party, what do you do in winter?"

Although this is Prez's first time making a sculpture out of a giant block of snow, his teammate Ramon Masramon Levia has travelled the world carving up the white stuff.

Their ideastarted with paper and then they made a connection to the snow: both are fragile materials that don't last long. Add an Alice in Wonderland rabbit reference and you have Origami du Lapin, one of the teams imaginative snow sculpture creations.

"I like this kind of competition, it allows you to go and know what other countries and other visions of the life and the sculpture [are]," said Prez.

The team from Yukon agrees.

"It's really inspiring, all the different ideas people come up with, said Green. It's really amazing to watch how people go through their process, and of course seeing all the finished works at the end."

The Yukon teams piece is called Mile 918, which is the original mile post of Whitehorse, Yukon. The team found inspiration in the old derelict gas stations along the Alaska Highway.

Both pieces are part of Festival du Voyageur's International Snow Sculpting Symposium and can be viewed during the festivalFeb. 13 to 22at Whittier Park.