Winter Wonderland Cancellation Release (PDF)
Tradition Falls (PDF) “Tradition Falls”, the first-place snow sculpture proposal for “Winter Wonderland,” by Darius Montazemi, Kelsi Mueller, and Nathan Stottler.
Lucent Gale(PDF) “Lucent Gale”, the runner-up snow sculpture proposal by Drew Holmgren, Collin Johnson, and Tali Johnson.
FARGO, N.D. – The Memorial Union Gallery at North Dakota State University (NDSU) and Plains Art Museum were collaborating with artist and landscape architecture Professor Stevie Famulari to bring a juried snow sculpture competition to the NDSU campus.
However, someone forgot to tell Mother Nature. The Fargo-Moorhead area has only received a dusting of snow since the initial scale model prototypes were judged for the competition last November, making construction of the snow sculptures impossible. The construction was planned for the first week of February, but will now be postponed to next winter. The current selected teams will be given first chance at a space in next year’s sculpture competition by default should they choose to build.
“We think that this project shows the power of art to not just change lives but to change the weather,” said Colleen Sheehy, director and CEO of the Museum. “The mere planning and organizing of ‘Winter Wonderland’ overturned weather predictions that promised a very snowy winter caused by El Nina, and produced the snowless, warm season we’ve enjoyed this year. That was an inadvertent impact of this project.”
The Memorial Union Gallery will host a repeat exhibition of the snow sculpture prototypes January 12 – 26. The prototypes will then travel to the Museum for an exhibition February 3 – 12.
“Our arts community, in preparation for toughing out our typically intense January and February temperatures and snow in a creative way, would like to take credit for our lack of snow by simply planning this event,” Famulari said.
Audiences can look forward to the larger-than-life structures being carved next year. In the meantime, organizations interested in being part of next year’s event or making a donation can contact Famulari at stevie@steviefamulari.net or Memorial Union Visual Arts and Gallery Coordinator Esther Hockett at esther.hockett@ndsu.edu.
Plains Art Museum is located at 704 First Avenue North. It is accredited by the American Association of Museums and is a nonprofit, regional fine arts museum with plans to significantly expand its programs through its “Little Artist in All of Us” campaign. The campaign is raising funds for the Center for Creativity and Lifelong Learning which includes working with Fargo Public Schools and other educational entities to build teaching studios. The campaign is also strengthening operations by enhancing the Museum’s endowment and visitor services.
Museum programs are made possible, in part, by major funding from members of the Museum, The FUNd at Plains Art Museum, the cities of Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo through The Arts Partnership, The McKnight Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature, the North Dakota Council on the Arts through an appropriation by the North Dakota State Legislature and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. More information is available at 701.232.3821 or at www.plainsart.org.
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