Completion of a polar bear and winter still-life snow sculpture by Pat Brodeur set to bring smiles for family, friends and visitors<\/p>\n
You know it\u2019s a snow news day when Midland resident Pat Brodeur completes his backyard sculptures.<\/p>\n
For four years since 2021, Brodeur has been entertaining friends and visitors to his backyard on Wawinet Street to show off creations of packed snow and ice, and this year\u2019s entry included a functional igloo,\u00a0a polar bear, a cub\u00a0and an ice hole which will be used for a polar bear plunge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main event is the polar bear; it\u2019s probably bigger than the largest polar bear ever,\u201d Brodeur tells\u00a0MidlandToday.<\/p>\n
The three-meter, snow-packed depiction of Canada\u2019s winter predator had been accentuated with black spray paint in stencils for claws, eyes, ears and lips \u2013 just like the smaller and more life-sized cub, which Brodeur had begun sculpting at 7 a.m. one morning and completed a few hours later.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to get the appearance on the ice and looking into the (three-foot-deep) ice hole, I had to raise the level of the yard,\u201d says Brodeur, who points out he chose that sized hole due to its proper fitting for an insert.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a dunk tank, so I do cold-plunges, which I\u2019ll do next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
And before or after the plunge, one imagines he’ll used the backyard sauna located nearby.<\/p>\n
Brodeur began his process with the assistance of excess snowfall over the December holiday period. He drew snow from his front yard and driveway to bring to the back, while his neighbours throughout the street also contributed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shovelling for six neighbours, scooping it and bringing it over. I would say, \u2018Can I borrow your snow?\u2019 They would say, \u2018Take as much as you need!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the igloo, Brodeur shared that its first iteration as a structure around the backyard fire pit resembled a castle, to which a young neighbour said: \u201c\u2018Oh, look at the castle; you need a creature with this castle\u2019. And so it just started.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brodeur had created the igloo blocks using recycling bins initially, but soon recognized that a handsaw on the packed snow of his front yard could be transported for a more accurate usage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they make an igloo, they go onto the lake and cut blocks; so this is the true form of making an igloo, once I pack it down and it\u2019s gone through the thaw.\u201d<\/p>\n
In previous years, Brodeur had sculpted the Kraken sea monster <\/a>from Norse mythology, a mythical Yeti from the Himalayans<\/a>\u00a0and the aforementioned dragon and castle<\/a> in his first exhibition.<\/p>\n While not traditionally a woodcarver, Brodeur says\u00a0that he had taken some inspiration in the past with constructing wooden toys such as vehicles for friends and children based on designs they would provide.<\/p>\n Brodeur\u2019s wife Mary tells\u00a0MidlandToday\u00a0that her husband\u2019s creativity always came as a surprise.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery year he just gets better and better at it. He sometimes says, \u2018I\u2019m not going to do it this year, it\u2019s a lot of work\u2019, but then winter rolls around and the snow starts coming down, and I see the twinkle in his eye\u2026 and the next thing I know he\u2019s in the backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n Regional events involving snow and ice sculptures, such as the Winterama festival in Penetanguishene, are beyond Brodeur\u2019s aspirations.<\/p>\n \u201cThat kind of scares me, to have a competition where you\u2019re under the gun. I like when I can go at my own pace.\u201d<\/p>\n Although the sculptures are in the backyard of the Brodeur\u2019s property, he said that visitors would often come by and give a friendly drop-in to see what the new year had to offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Completion of a polar bear and winter still-life snow sculpture by Pat Brodeur set to bring smiles for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,140120,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-237427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-ice-sculpturesnow-sculpturespolar-bear-plungepat-brodeurmidland-snow-sculptures","15":"tag-new-zealand","16":"tag-newzealand","17":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}