{"id":462657,"date":"2026-02-08T23:31:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T23:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/462657\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T23:31:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T23:31:18","slug":"a-yellowknife-snow-carver-on-the-politics-of-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/462657\/","title":{"rendered":"A Yellowknife snow carver on the politics of art"},"content":{"rendered":"

A snow carver from Yellowknife says \u201cart is inherently political\u201d after returning from a competition where a sculpture was destroyed for its political message.<\/p>\n

Cat McGurk attended the World Snow Sculpting Championship in Stillwater, Minnesota, for the third time earlier this winter. <\/p>\n

Listen to this episode wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McGurk\u2019s team first entered a sculpture in the competition in 2023. In 2023, the team\u2019s entry was inspired by the NWT\u2019s 2023 wildfire season<\/a>. This year, the team, which represented New Zealand, entered a snow sculpture featuring rats feasting on a fish skull.<\/p>\n

Sixteen teams from across the globe competed in the 2026 event.<\/p>\n

A sculpture titled A Call to Arms by a team representing the USA was disqualified from the competition and destroyed.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was very difficult to hear because typically, when a sculpture is breaking the rules, the consequences are simply just being removed from the competition. They are not torn down,\u201d McGurk said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very violent act, especially considering the tone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Cat McGurk shared this photo of Team USA\u2019s A Call to Arms taken before it was destroyed.<\/p>\n

The sphere-shaped sculpture featured outreached hands, some of which spelled words and phrases in American Sign Language including \u201clove,\u201d \u201cunity,\u201d \u201cresist\u201d and \u201cICE out,.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stillwater is located about 35 minutes from Minneapolis, where federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, commonly known as ICE, were involved in the high-profile fatal shootings of two residents<\/a> earlier this year. <\/p>\n

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Competition organizers told the Pioneer Press<\/a> Team USA had not complied with rules that require entrants to adhere to their submitted sketches and ensure sculptures \u201crespect cultural and social values, and avoid controversial, political or inappropriate themes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around the same time that Team USA\u2019s sculpture in Stillwater was dismantled, a separate snow sculpture was disqualified for its anti-ICE message at the Minnesota State Snow Sculpting Competition in nearby St Paul. <\/p>\n

That sculpture featured a blindfolded face with a whistle and the words \u201cICE OUT MN\u201d etched into it. The artists behind the sculpture said someone defaced it<\/a>, destroying the whistle and removing the anti-ICE message.<\/p>\n

McGurk said while some snow sculpting competitions prohibit political messages, those rules can be challenging as \u201cart is inherently political.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially in sculpture, which I find more of a conversation than other art forms, it\u2019s hard to keep that out,\u201d McGurk said, noting that sculptures are large, public and create conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see political sculpture all the time. I think people just kind-of do it in a quiet way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to make art that isn\u2019t passionate and comes from inside you and is emotional, and it\u2019s hard not to bring your thoughts into something that is passionate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Cat McGurk works on a wooden sculpture at Folk on the Rocks. Serra Hamilton\/Cabin Radio<\/p>\n

McGurk said they will be hesitant to re-enter the snow sculpting competition in Stillwater unless expectations and consequences for breaking the rules are more clearly defined. They said they can\u2019t support sculptures being destroyed.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhile it\u2019s temporary art, to remove something before its time is not a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement<\/a> late last month, the Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce apologized for how the situation was handled, stating that \u201cin a fast-moving and emotionally charged moment, our response did not fully reflect our shared values.\u201d The chamber said it was committed to learning from what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeadership is not about perfection,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cIt is about the humility to pause, reflect and adjust when something does not land as intended.\u201d<\/p>\n

Correction: February 8, 2026 \u2013 3:00 MT.\u00a0A previous version of this story stated Cat McGurk\u2019s team first entered a sculpture in the 2024 World Snow Sculpting Championship. In fact, the team first entered the competition in 2023. <\/p>\n

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