300-pound ice sculptures centerpiece of Wichita Art Museum’s free ice capades
Who knew ice can be fun? It can be if it’s a 300-pound block of ice or an ice cube used to create art.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Wichita Art Museum is showcasing using ice to create art – and apparently Wichitans love it. The average attendance at past annual ice-related events has been about 3,000 patrons, according to museum spokeswoman Teresa Veazey.
“That’s a really good Saturday,” Veazey said.
Saturdays tend to be a popular day for visitors since admission is free, thanks to Wichita philanthropist Colby Sandlian whose donation underwrites Saturday admission at WAM. But attendance heats up with the annual ice event.
“With 3,000 people here on a Saturday, that means something spectacular is going on,” Veazey said.
This year’s ice event is themed “Art Ice Capades,” and will happen from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23. Not only will visitors see two individual artists and two artist teams creating art out of 300-pound blocks of ice, patrons can take turns whacking, hacking and carving another block of ice outside. WAM officials have planned for inclement weather and will have tents set up for the artists and onlookers. Dress warmly, advised Veazey.
Visitors will have plenty of ice-related activities to do inside, with popular local DJ Carbon spinning music from noon-3 p.m., artmaking in the Art Studio and interactive Living Room areas of WAM, and the screening of the movies “Ice Age” and “Frozen” at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively, in the Howard E. Wooden Lecture Room. One of the artmaking projects includes using ice cubes. Lamphouse Photo Co. will have a booth set up for free photos, too.
Five food trucks will be on-site, as well, with most being set up by 10 a.m. and visitors can bring purchases inside. WAM’s Muse Cafe also is open.
The guest artists are Mike Miller, Meghan Miller, and artist teams Brady Hatter and Delilah Reed, and Marc Durfee and Laine Pike. Mike Miller, a local kinetic sculptor whose artwork includes the spider in downtown’s Gallery Alley, has participated in the previous ice art days, usually incorporating the element of fire with his ice art. He likes accentuating the contrasts in his artwork and he applies that to the ice work, as well. That’s why he likes adding a fire component.
He usually has to visualize how he’ll create the piece but doesn’t practice since a big block of ice is an expensive medium to work with, he said.
“But then you may get the unexpected, and that’s kind of fun,” he said.
He also finds it fun that the onlookers are seeing the creation of art as it happens.
“It’s almost like a performance,” he said.
One year, he hung a spinning block of ice above a campfire and diverted the melting ice with a funnel. The spinning, the melting and more morphed the ice into “a strange shape.”
This year, he’s planning to create several carved pieces of what will be ice lenses and hang them from a cedar tree he recently chopped down on his property. To prepare the tree, he’s transforming its limbs into arm-like extensions and burning the base of the tree to give it a charred look – that’s the fire element in this year’s creation.
Also on Saturday, the Friends of the Wichita Art Museum will have a used book sale from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. inside the museum.
Wichita Art Museum Family Art Venture: ‘Art Ice Capades’
When: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 23)
Where: Wichita Art Museum, 1400 Museum Blvd.
What: Ice-related activities, including live ice-sculpting, movie screenings and art-making
Admission: Free
More information: wichitaartmuseum.org, 316-268-4921
This story was originally published February 22, 2019 at 11:09 AM.