From visual to performance art, Brooklyn artists showcase their talent in front of a live audience at the Governors Island Ice Sculpture Show.
Brooklyn artists took part in the fifth annual Governors Island Ice Sculpture Show on Sunday, showcasing their creativity through chiseled ice and performance. Inspired by this year’s theme of “movement,” the works drew from a range of influences, including New York City’s arts scene and the natural landscape of Governors Island.
The competition, originally planned for February but ironically rescheduled due to the snow storm, featured 10 artists doing live ice carving, with assistance from professionals from Okamoto Studio. In addition to the contest, the day also featured a live DJ, food trucks, and an ice sculpture workshop.
Ten finalists were chosen out of around 50 proposals that were submitted after the open call for competitors. While many of them have backgrounds as visual artists with experience in sculpture, the primary goal for Associate Curator and Producer Juan Pablo Silas was to select people who had not previously worked with ice.
“Most of these people have not worked in the ice medium, but they have a sense already of three dimensionality,” he said. “The spirit of this competition is really more sort of amateur.”
Attendees carving small blocks of ice. Photo: Ava Sharahy for BK Reader
Finalist Kris Thomas took the contest as an opportunity to try something new.
“I was really excited at the idea of doing ice sculpture for the first time,” said Thomas, who resides in Bushwick and uses the pronoun they.
While the finalists participated in an orientation to learn how to handle their tools, they were otherwise left to their own devices to practice however they pleased.
“I bought a $30 chainsaw, and I broke it. I got some blocks of ice from a guy,” Thomas added.
They also made a small plaster model of their design, titled “Flight Of The Yellow-Crowned Night Heron,” which shows a bird in flight to represent the natural ecosystem of Governors Island and New York Harbor.
“I’ve just been drawing my design all the time, and I did my practice ice sculpture in the backyard of my job,” they said.
Bushwick resident Kris Thomas won the People’s Choice Award. Photo: Ava Sharahy for BK Reader
Other artists interpreted the contest’s prompt to suit their own visions. Park Slope’s Karina Manta utilized her background as a former Team USA ice dance skater to create a piece of performance art titled “Busking Stage.”
“I love Governors Island. I knew about the festival, I follow their social media, and I’m a figure skater, so I’ve always felt like it’s a dream to take part,” she said.
Carving a small surface to act as her stage, Manta debuted a live, improvised performance on ice, creating a sculpture out of her physical movements. Sitting next to the stage was an ice-filled tip jar, where wet dollar bills were collected.
While she took part in the same orientation as the rest of the artists, her preparation looked different.
“Some of it now is just experimenting,” she said. “I never skated on a surface this small, so in the process, I’m going to be discovering what works and what doesn’t. It literally is taking movement, the concept of movement, and the three-dimension of the scope. It just becomes so much more than just that.”
. Photo: Ava Sharahy for BK Reader
After two hours of sculpting, attendees were able to vote for their favorite sculpture for the People’s Choice Award.
Thomas, supported by family and friends who wore handmade cardboard pins featuring an ice cube with “Kris” painted on it, won and received a medal made of ice.
“I feel incredible,” Thomas said with a grin. “This is like the second-best day of my life. I had to correct that because I said first best day, but my fiancée’s here.”
Lydia Colon was happy to support her fiancée try a different medium other than oil and paint.
“They’ve never done anything like this, so it’s really cool,” Colon said.