Strong suburban ties help Snow Days Chicago to grow
Arlington Heights resident Fran Volz attracted big neighborhood crowds when he started in 1987 to make sophisticated snow sculptures in his front yard.
Now Volz hopes to attract more than 75,000 visitors to Grant Park, informally known as "Chicago's Front Yard," to see international and locally crafted snow sculptures.
It's all a part of the second annual Snow Days Chicago winter festival, which continues from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and Sunday.
"So many of the sculptors are so happy that snow sculpting is the centerpiece," said Volz, whose Arlington Heights-based company, Snow Visions Inc., is in the second year of partnering with Chicago's Mayor's Office of Special Events on the event.
Volz notes that snow sculpting sometimes comes off as an afterthought at winter festivals in other states. So while Snow Days Chicago also features a dogsled track and a "Snow Board Rail Jam," the snow sculpting competition is the star attraction.
Fifteen three-member sculpting teams, including teams from China and Canada, are creating works of art from man-made snow blocks that are 10 feet tall and 6 feet across. Wildlife, cartoonish cityscapes and even celebrity caricatures (there's a "Snoprah" Winfrey sculpture) are just some of the subjects. Also in the mix are 12 smaller noncompetition sculptures by teams of high school students.
At stake is prize money - $1,500 for first place, $1,000 for second and $500 for third - and boasting rights, since there is also a People's Choice award that comes with a special trophy. The winners are to be announced at 6 p.m. tonight in the third-floor Waldorf Room at the Chicago Hilton and Towers at 720 S. Michigan Ave.
Volz's Snow Visions used to sponsor a snow sculpting competition at Randhurst Shopping Center in Mount Prospect. But he's been glad to move the competition to a higher-profile stage.
In terms of convenience, the suburban-to-Chicago shift means sculptor Ralph Cossentino of Hoffman Estates has a lot farther to travel if he wants to sleep in his own bed. But he doesn't mind.
"Even though I lived like five minutes from Randhurst, I would really prefer to be down here in the city," Cossentino said while on a break from his Native American sculpture titled "Amongst the Canyons of Chicago."
"In this kind of setting, you can't beat it," he said.
Working with son Sean and team member Frank Sorrentino, this is Cossentino's second time competing in a major snow sculpting competition. But it's not a far cry from his day job working with clay and stone sculptures as an instructor for Palette and Chisel Art Academy in Chicago.
"It's great, because it is a different medium," Cossentino said. "Plus, there's that whole fantasy and romance of playing out in the snow."
Another suburban team is led by 19-year-old Matt McDonald of Buffalo Grove. Working with teammates Kyle Jakubowicz and Luke Shemroske, they're saluting the 40th anniversary of PBS-TV's "Sesame Street" with a snow likeness of Oscar the Grouch in their sculpture "40 Years in the Can."
McDonald got his first taste of snow sculpting as a student at Vanguard School in Arlington Heights. His art teacher, Natalie DeMeo, has encouraged students to participate in snow sculpting since 2005.
Last year, following on the heels of the presidential inauguration, McDonald's high school team won lots of praise for their "Obamanable Snow Man" sculpture. But now, McDonald is competing with snow sculpting professionals, some of whom have been at it for more than 20 years.
"I was a little nervous, because I've seen what these guys have done in the years before. They're incredible artists." McDonald said.
But with a $1,500 top prize and paid hotel accommodation throughout the competition, McDonald said, "We all thought it was a worth a shot."
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<li><a href="/story/?id=355124">Images from the Snow Visions competition </a></li>
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