Hot Vs Cold on YouTube

Thanks to Louise for sending me this link, now those of us who were unable to attend the opening can get a feel for what it was like.

Cheers,

Connor

2011 WinterPLAY Ice Sculptures

Here are a few pictures taken by Municipal Leisure Guide Coordinator, Emily Hui (pictured below). Ice sculptures fit within the category of temporary works of Public Art. What do you think about these works? Would you like to see more works of Public Art in our region? If so what types; sculpture, murals, temporary works, light or sound installations, memorials, monuments, street furniture, architecture etc.

A few words from Emily:

For me, the Ice Kingdom Wood Buffalo was the most anticipated part of the WinterPlay Carnival. I went to the Doug McRae Park outside Keyano College on Feb 26 (Sat) in the afternoon to have a quick “preview” of the ice sculptures before the public reveal & lighting ceremony. An eagle with its wings wide stretched out was the first ice sculpture at the entrance of the path, followed by other animals like owl, deer, beaver, fishes, loonies, a big wood buffalo bison and even RRRibbitt the recycling frog! At the end of the path stood two stunning sculptures which made everyone “woah!”. On the left was a jungle with a giraffe, a zebra and some smaller animals around. On the right there stood a huge Chinese dragon which you could see all the details of the hair and scales as if it’s a real animal in front of you. Some of the artists were still polishing and giving their sculptures a final touch. There I met and talked with the Chinese guy Stephen Chung who carved the vivid dragon. He is actually a chef from Edmonton but recently moved to Fort McMurray to work at MacDonald Island Park. (Maybe we can expect good Chinese cuisine and more beautiful ice sculptures at MacDonald Island soon!?)

It was nice to see those ice sculptures so I decided to go again with my camera to take some pictures of the finished sculptures the next evening with the lighting. The freezing cold temperature kept the ice sculptures in good shape but was a real challenge to my hands to operate the camera. The lighting effect was pretty cool for some of the sculptures but a couple of them were affected by the strong light from the Keyano buildings. I hope the organizer would find a better location next time and would put up some panels to display the title/theme of each sculpture with the sculptor’s name.

Hurry to see these fabulous artworks if you haven’t visited them yet!

Artist in Residency Program

As the above poster is a bit tricky to read in this format, here is the information again:

CALL 4 ARTISTS

WHO: Emergent and mid-career artists

WHAT: Canadian artists are invited to participate in The Artist in Residency Program, the first of its kind to be held in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. This residency is geared towards emergent and mid-career artists, but only proposals in the following mediums can be accepted for the 2011 program: Painting (acrylic & watercolour), Digital media, Drawing and Textile and Fibre Arts. The benefits to the successful applicants include a dedicated studio space (with no associated fee) and activities that will include an artist talk (15-20 minutes) event, open-house demonstrations and the showcasing of their artwork in a group exhibition to be held in Fort McMurray

WHERE: The region’s first Artist in Residency program is being hosted in Fort McMurray

WHEN: The program commences on June 6, 2011 and continues for three months

WHY: The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo is strongly supportive of the diverse cultural and artistic communities that thrive within its boundaries

HOW: Submit an application to the Artist in Residency Program that meets nine criteria as described on the Municipal website www.woodbuffalo.ab.ca/artist, or contact:

Connor Buchanan
Culture Coordinator
T 780.788.4335
C 780.792.4375
connor.buchanan@woodbuffalo.ab.ca


The following images are the program description and application information. Please visit the link above which will take you to the municipal website to view these files as pdfs.