This past Sunday at the Silver Skate Festival was the second day of the “Fires of Fear” sculpture event.
This day was devoted to the creation of a collaborative work – one sculpture, made by all of us, to be committed to the flames on the Sunday night.
The day’s work was quite a bit more challenging than I (and my colleagues) had hoped … fact of the matter was, the weather conspired against us a bit. It turned chilly and windy on the Sunday, so we were all thoroughly bundled up against the chill, and seeking out hot coffee and soup frequently! This was happier news for the artists creating snow sculptures and for the skaters and skiers to be sure … but my hands were not terribly happy – or cooperative – in the cold. Still, there’s something to be said for adversity bringing people together – we all worked hard to get the sculpture finished early so we could take a long warm-up break before the night time burn!
For this sculpture, we took another page from the curator’s folktale narrative and created a giant wolf … in the folktale for which our sculptures were made, wolves were (logically enough) something that the villagers feared, but they were also denizens of an alternate reality, a world of magic and possibility and adventure. So, it seemed only fitting that we close the “Fires of Fear” by creating one of these lovely beasts!
And here are some photos of our day’s work, and the final, spectacular burn that night:
I feel really fortunate to have been able to participate in this wonderful event. I worked with some lovely people, had a ridiculous amount of fun making work, and I got to play with fire!
What more could I ask??
Sydney, that is very cool. The fire does look spectacular and I see other creatures emergening from those flames. Fire dragons!
Oh yes! There wee all manner of interesting beasts emerging from the shapes of the flames, and from the willow/wood/caragana armature as it was burned. Quite a fascinating process to witness!
Looks incredible! Love that wolf.
We had such fun building it, despite the cold. And we got into the spirit of the whole thing – the lot of us howling (and getting the crowd to join in) when the Fire Dancers came to the circle. It was a hoot!
I know what you mean about playing with fire!!
Haha! Yes indeed you would Dawn!
Fun, isn’t it?!