Winners of Breckenridge snow sculpture contest. (left to right) Team Lithuania won gold, Team Canada, Ontario won silver and Team Mexico won bronze. Photos courtesy of Carl Scofield. (January 31, 2010) |
BRECKENRIDGE—
Sixty-five hours, determination and extremely talented sculptors were the ingredients for success for team Lithuania to bring their sculpture, "Milite Est Vita" to life.Team Lithuania took home the gold Sunday at the 20th annual Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championships in Breckenridge, .
The finished pieces were achieved without the use of power tools, internal support structures or colorants - just the ingenuity of man and a medium that lends itself, if only temporarily, to the persuasion of chisels, saws, chicken wire and even carrot scrapers.
"This year's sculptures stood out from previous years in that there was extreme attention to detail and the messages of the pieces were very strong addressing relevant world issues and events," said Jenn Cram, one of this year's judges, ceramist and Breckenridge's public art and Arts District administrator.
"The judging was very difficult this year given the quality of all of the pieces, but we were blown away by Team Lithuania's simplicity, message and perfectly executed texture and detail."
The results are as follows:
Gold: Team Lithuania with "Milite Est Vita" a textured sculpture of a gloved hand holding up the "V" sign symbolizing the fragility and temporary nature of victoryÂ…every day is a fight.
Silver: Team Canada, Ontario with "Memories from my Youth," an elaborate sculpture of the face of a Japanese princess from one side and a scene depicting her memories of a banzai garden, pagoda and bridge over a brook from the other side.
Bronze: Team Mexico with "The Altar of Quetzalcoatl," a detailed sculpture that represents Quetzalcoatl, the god of life and dead in the Mexican culture, which included the symbol of the sun in his daily rebirth.
The sculpting finished at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Thousands of spectators watched this week as 12 teams from six countries sculpted 20-ton blocks of snow into works of art.
The sculptures will remain on display at the Riverwalk Center in Breckenridge, Colorado until Sunday, February 7
