They say that "some like it hot." But for Traverse City's Steven Berkshire, the colder, the better.
Berkshire recently competed in the World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska. The five-day competition culminated on March 11 with Berkshire and his teammates taking first place in the multiple block realistic phase of competition. They also won the State of Alaska Governor's Choice Award and the Ivalie Cox Artists' Choice Award. Berkshire's team has the distinction of being the first competitors ever to win all three categories.
This year marked the fourth year that Berkshire has participated in the World Championships. The 40-year-old Traverse City native noted that there are two categories of competitions: single block and multiple block and within those categories there is a "realistic" and an "abstract" sub-category.
This year Berkshire competed in the single block abstract and the multiple block realistic. The multiple block competition is a five day and 12 hour, or 132 hour competition. Berkshire says that this equates to about 16 hours of ice sculpting each day.
Berkshire teamed up with three other ice sculptors, Mark Johnson from Wonder Lake, III., Carl Eady form Fairbanks Alaska and Stan Kolonko from Auburn, N.Y.
Their award-winning piece "Balto's Charge," paid tribute to the Alaskan malamute Balto who in the winter of 1925, weathered a 674 mile journey in blizzard conditions to deliver serum to Nome. Balto was lead by his musher Gunner Kasson and joined by 19 other sled dog teams. The brave trek saved the town on Nome from a diphtheria epidemic which had already claimed the lives of five children.
"To be able to capture not only the meaning ... the movement ... the intensity... the charging down the slope, the actual movement and then to freeze that and literally capture that," he said. "We were able to do that."
The finished sculpture measured more than 28 feet tall and 30 feet wide and weighed in at over 50,000 pounds. In contrast, an average buffet sculpture, weighs approximately 300 pounds.
As team captain Berkshire had numerous responsibilities beyond simply carving ice. He not only designed the piece but also engineered its construction. He also was charged with the responsibility of keeping an eye on his team members to make sure they were getting plenty of rest and not being negatively affected by the elements.
"You have to change clothes every couple hours, the tools have to be razor sharp, all the electric cords have to be flexible in low temperature. It's continual," Berkshire said of the checks and balances he runs as team captain.
The weather in Alaska poses its own set of challenges. "It is not uncommon to have a 50-60 degree temperature change in a 24 hour period up there," he said. "It will go from being 35 below to 20 above. That creates some challenges as well."
The temperatures can cause a variety of challenges, the most crucial being the effect it can have on the sculptors. Due to the cold temperatures and the perspiration that comes from the hard work of sculpting, Berkshire says that it's important to change clothes every two hours in order to stay warm and dry and limit the chance of frostbite.
"Being the team captain and leading the team and also sculpting, continuously you're evaluating, the fatigue, the moral, the condition of the individual sculptors ... are they dressed properly? Are they getting frostbite? Are they too fatigued so that they shouldn't be running a power tool," he said.
Creating an ice sculpture that weighs 50,000 pounds requires careful planning. First and foremost, Berkshire said, just as when you're constructing a building the sculptors need to make sure the ground is solid. Next they evaluate each block of ice, marking its imperfections so they can be worked around.
"Depending on what fractures are already in the block, you may have to change things out and move them around," he said. "First you engineer a piece that will withstand the load, that will be able to stand so that it's safe."
Berkshire uses a variety of tools when he's sculpting including die grinders, individual hand saws, trim saws and chain saws. All of the chains are custom modified on the chain saws.
Berkshire noted that most important is that the team works together as a team and critiques one another and works together. "One thing I do being a captain, I always leave an open door," he said. "We're not just here to construct something. We're here to share a passion. By keeping the door open the ideas continue to flow in and out and great things happen as a result of that."
Though it's been over three weeks since the competition, Berkshire's sculpture continues to stand. He estimates 60,000-70,000 spectators will view the sculpture before it finally fades away.
"That's part of the magic," he said of the work's short life span. "(The people who viewed it) were the fortunate ones who got to view some great sculptures and then they go away. I guess it's part of the magic of sculpting ice, you really have to be able to let it go... but you always have the memory.... It's always there."
For more information on Berkshire's work, visit his web site at www.ice-impressions.com.