The Telluride Watch
Published: 01/10/06
Hot Art, CoolSculpt – Catch It Before It Melts!
The Second Annual CoolSculpt returns this year, as part of the annual Mountain Village SnowFest. This year’s CoolSculpt has five featured teams, each with a professional artist/designer at their helm.
Tom Alpern, lead sculptor for Las Montañas, is a two-time winner at the Aspen WinterSculpt competition; he has been invited to Breckenridge’s World Snow Sculpting Championships as well. In addition to being his work in snow, this Rhode Island School of Design grad is also an animator, filmmaker and glassblower. As the title sponsor of this year’s CoolSculpt competition, Las Montañas gains an extra edge. Its team will have the largest of the snow blocks to carve, measuring 8 feet x 8 feet x 12 feet, and the best location – in the Heritage Plaza. Look for the sculpture that looks like a Volkswagen Bus, ready for a day of surfing.
The other four teams will be sculpting slightly smaller blocks of snow, measuring 8 feet x 8 feet x 8 feet.
The Bootdoctors’ team will also be led by the winning sculptor from last year’s CoolSculpt event, Duncan Mackenzie; he, too, is a RISD grad. Mackenzie’s sculpture, titled “Sacred Space,” will be located near the Beach at the bottom of Lift 4. Mackenzie, who has received a grant from the Telluride Council for the Arts and Humanities to build a public sundial in Mountain Village, was a featured artist in last year’s As the Crow Flies exhibit at the Ah Haa School. He designs exterior environments, focusing on sacred alignments and on integrating landscape design with sculptural installations. Mackenzie, who specializes in glass and stone, has had a glassblowing and sculpture studio in Santa Cruz, Calif., for the last 15 years.
CoolSculpt returnee Richard Arnold is sponsored by Telski. His sculpture will sit near the Beach at the bottom of Lift 4, located next to the Diggity Dog cart. Arnold, a veteran if the construction and aviation industries, is perhaps best-known for his bronze sculpture, “Sophia,” which stands near the bus stop in front of the Telluride Middle/High School at the entrance to town. He is working to finish a veterans’ memorial for the town of Fruita, Colo.
The Town of Mountain Village will be sponsoring a team of 20 art students from the Telluride Mountain School, led by art teacher Craig Wasserman. They will be the first team to create a sculpture on the snow at the base of Lift 4.
Beth Bailis and Ted Moews will be sculptors of the block of snow sponsored by American National Bank. CoolSculpt organizer Andy Kruger calls the preliminary design for their sculpture “something really fantastic,” and it will be located at the top of the Meadows lift in the Mountain Village’s Town Plaza. Bailis, who has lived in the Telluride region since 1992, holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture from Harvard University’s School of Design. Moews started sculpting early, built his first log cabin when he was only 13 and moved on to complete two degrees in fine art from the University of Denver and UCLA. Moews also has spent time cowboying/rodeoing, raising buffalo and raising a family in his hand-notched log cabin at 10,000 feet.
More than $3,000 in prizes and money will be awarded to the winning sculptors. First place will receive $1,000, and six transferable lift tickets. The remaining prize money will be divided among the other teams.
Sculpting starts Thursday, Jan. 12, and teams can work around the clock Thursday and Friday to transform their blocks into freestanding sculptures. Judging will take place on Monday, Jan. 16, at 10 a.m. Sculptures will be critiqued on originality, creativity and technical excellence. Bystanders are also encouraged to contribute their opinions through the “People’s Choice Award.” The winners will be announced at an après ski party at 3:30 p.m. at Tracks café and bar.
All that follows a weekend to remember, with fireworks and a torchlight parade Friday, starting at 6:30 p.m. (best viewed from the Beach), with DJ Antone hosting a party at Tracks Café wrapping up the evening.
Saturday, Ralph Dinosaur plays a free concert in the Mountain Village Heritage Plaza at 4 p.m.
Sunday wraps up with a Warrior Promotions Snowmobiling Stunt Show – think Evel Kenievel, on bumps! – at 6 p.m.
For more information about SnowFest, visit www.tellurideskiresort.com or call 728-7400. For more information about CoolSculpt visit www.coolsculpt.com or contact Andy Krueger of Mountain Video Productions LLC at 728-7008 or andy@coolsculpt.com.
CoolSculpt is organized by Krueger with the generous title sponsor support from Las Montañas; supporting sponsors include the Town of Mountain Village, Telluride Council for the Arts and Humanities, Boot Doctors, American National Bank and Telluride Ski and Golf Co., with additional support from Wells-Fargo.
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