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As the rest of us look to dig out, sculptors begin snow removal, too

Shirley Halpin walks her dog, Chloe, through Riviera Park in Lake Geneva Monday as crews began constructing the huge snow cylinders that sculptors will turn into art.

LAKE GENEVA - Though he's worked with media like wood and bronze, La Crosse artist and sculptor Mike Martino really gets into snow - literally.

Over two decades, Martino has virtually immersed himself in the huge snow sculptures he's helped to create.

Martino and fellow members Tom Queoff and Mike Sponholtz, both Milwaukee-area artists, constitute Wisconsin-based Team USA, one of 15 teams competing in this year's U.S Nationals Snow Sculpting Competition.

Team USA won first place in the 2010 championships with a sculpture titled "Egrets," that was a graceful convergence of the birds.

Sculptors are scheduled to begin carving this morning, just as a huge winter storm is expected to dump a foot or more of snow on the area.

Crews began hauling in snow Monday the Mountain Top at the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa. About two weeks ago, Hans Hauschild, director of snow sports, and his crew forced water and pressurized air through a "snow gun" to create an estimated 16,000 cubic feet of snow.

Temperatures under 28 degrees with low humidity make for optimal snowmaking conditions, but Hauschild noted that in his nine years at Mountain Top, he's always managed to make enough snow for the championships - even in the warm winter of 2009.

Competitors may use simply snow, ice or water in their sculptures. No armatures, molded shapes or colorants are allowed.

While only hand tools are allowed in the competition, snow-sculpting tools are as likely to come from a kitchen or barn as a hardware store, and are limited only by an artist's vision and creativity.

Martino has seen - and used - everything from simple chisels to stainless steel snow choppers with customized triangular teeth cut into the blades. Cheese graters and currycombs - used to groom horses - add a fine, finished texture to the snow's surface, he said.

"I always say, 'I don't hunt deer, so snow sculpting is my male bonding experience.'"

Read the full story in the Jan. 30, 2011 e-edition of Walworth County Sunday, HERE.