**** Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission Release
DOWNTOWN DARTMOUTH ICE FESTIVAL PRESENTED BY EAST COAST CREDIT UNION RETURNS WITH THREE DAYS FULL OF FUN!
The Downtown Dartmouth Ice Festival presented by East Coast Credit Union returns this weekend for its fifth edition. The event will span this coming weekend January 26th-28th with 19 tons of ice being carved into over 60 ice sculptures around downtown Dartmouth: on the waterfront at the MacLeod Lorway Sculpture Garden, at King’s Wharf Place, at East Coast Credit Union at 155 Ochterloney Street and in the planters along 5 blocks of Portland Street between Victoria Road and Alderney Drive. In addition to the ice, there is fun for the whole family!
The fun kicks of on Friday, January 26th with an Ice Carving Workshop in the morning, live carving in Ferry Terminal Park, a Youth Showcase Friday evening at Alderney Landing hosted by CTV’s Katie Kelly with a special tribute to Taylor Swift. Outside of Alderney Landing, Lumen Lux and Mizz Anthrope of Luminosity Circus will be presenting 3 spectacular fire shows!
On Saturday, January 27th, Portland Street will be closed for the Ice Festival Street Party with 9 carvers bringing over 30 ice sculptures to life. In addition to the ice sculptures, there will be street games, and entertainment provided by Breaking Circus, Mad Science of the Maritimes and Ekko Mindful Music Studio, a Youth Showcase curated by Marine Drive Talent Management and the Juno stage presented by the Halifax Junos Host Committee featuring some of the city’s best DJs.
On Saturday and Sunday, Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster and Elmo will be available for a meet and greet in the Alderney Landing Theatre from noon-4pm.
Saturday night, the O’Regan’s Ice Festival Stages take over 11 venues across downtown Dartmouth presenting some of the city’s best local talent. This year, we welcome the African Nova Scotia Music Association to their new home in downtown Dartmouth where they will present the ANSMA Showcase – an incredible night of amazing talent at The Sanctuary Arts Centre at 100 Ochterloney Street.
Sunday provides a quieter environment to view the sculptures along Portland Street, in King’s Wharf and at East Coast Credit Union. There will be activities in Ferry Terminal Park, Cookie Monster and Elmo will be in the Alderney Landing Theatre and the Alderney Gate Public Library will be showing the hit movie Frozen at 1pm, with a special Ice Princess visiting from 2:30-4:30pm.
There are over 20 artists carving ice on Friday and Saturday including 13 NSCAD student artists carving at Alderney Landing. For more details on the artists, please the bios that follow.
A complete listing of activities and a schedule of events can be found on our website: downtowndartmouth.ca/icefestival
For interviews, please contact Tim Rissesco at 902-430-8236 or tim@downtowndartmouth.ca
ICE CARVER BIOS
GORDON SPARKS – My name is Gordon Sparks, my clan mother is the beaver, clan spirit animal the bear, born from the Turtle River, and the salmon is our clan dotem, raised in Pabineau First Nation, now living in Rough Waters N.B. Canada. The traditional hand-carved wooden mask has taken me on a vision path that is guiding my mind, body, and spirit to seek knowledge and wisdom of the Mi’kmaw people’s stories, traditional ceremonies, traditional food, and medicine. Each mask that I make is from my life story, and the people of Mi’kma’ki. Each mask, has a personal story on how I was guided to find the tree, take its life, carve the spirit out of the wood for all to see, and listen to what it has to say to ears that need to hear it. The vision I have been given guides my passion, and desire to record the past and present, with three dimensional form. I strongly believe in the traditional hand-carved wooden mask, traditional ceremony and storytelling. Each mask speaks to me, guides me, the tree that is chosen speaks to me to carve the spirit of our ancestors and the stories of our life givers and life protectors that live here in Mi’kma’ki, to be shown to all people of the land. In the end the spirits of the trees will speak of my people of today and my ancestors of the past, through the wooden mask, storytelling, and the language of the land. My work as a Mi’kmaw artist represents tradition for the Mi’kmaw people, to guarantee the preservation of traditional values, new and old ceremonies, oral storytelling, and the gathering of people to share in life stories together.
Artist Statement: Traditional wooden mask carving is the medicine that connects our oral stories to our visual language as Mi’kmaw people from the east coast of Turtle Island known now as Canada. Masks have the ability to bring people to gather in a safe place to share our oral history through stories, ceremonies, drums and dance. With the knowledge of mask making it has provided me with the ability to discover my roots through the art of sculpture. It’s my honour and obligation to continue the traditional wooden mask carving for my people and for my late mentor that is on his journey into the spirt world Edward Ned Bear, master traditional wooden mask carver.
RICHARD CHIASSON – Richard Chiasson is a renowned ice artist based out of New Brunswick. He also happens to be the owner of Ice Création Glace, who provides the 300-pound ice blocks for the festival. Richard is a chef by day as an instructor at the culinary school, CCNB Acadian Peninsula. Ice carving started as a hobby, and he now has decades of ice carving experience. Many of his ice carving tools, he has created himself by adapting other types of tools, often ones made for wood carving. His experience and knowledge are intriguing, and he never fails to impress.
JOEL PALMER – Joel Palmer is the Owner/Operator of Swamp Bear Art. With close to a decade of carving as a professional, Joel has become recognized as a top sculptor. His work has been featured many times in both national news and magazines. Joel was selected to be a participant on Discovery TV series A Cut Above – a popular chainsaw carving series. Over the years, Joel has worked on a variety of subjects for his clients, and his work can be found here, there, and everywhere. Joel currently lives in New Brunswick in the small town of Browns Flat. Having carved with some of the best sculptors in the world, Joel strives for excellence and quality in all of his work. One of his favourite ways to create is in the moment, off the top of his head and seeking the energy in each piece of wood or ice to reveal its inner hidden beauty as it reveals itself.
MATHEW NUQINGAQ – Mathew Nuqingaq is a multi-talented artist and educator from Iqaluit, Nunavut. To name a few of his talents, he is a sculptor, drum dancer, photographer, and founder of The Aayurra Studio. Mat has worked to create & promote Inuit art for over 20 years, and his studio has become a space to do just that. He travels to bring his talents to the Downtown Dartmouth Ice Festival presented by East Coast Credit Union and to reconnect with his long-time friend, Claude Roussel – who is another carver in the festival!
CLAUDE ROUSSEL – Claude Roussel is an artist based in Prospect, Nova Scotia whose art is heavily influenced by the environment around him. Claude spent 12 years in Nunavut where he worked closely with artist Mathew Nuqingaq, who you can read about below. Together, along with other artists, Mathew and Claude built and ran a collaborative studio where they worked together to elevate their art. *Fun fact* Claude and Mathew were on the same team for a snow sculpture contest in Nunavut in 2010, where they had less than 24 hours to create a masterpiece!
ROB MILNER – Rob Milner is the Owner of Eternity Chainsaw Carvings and resides in Brooklyn by Liverpool. He is a multi-award winning wood and ice carver who exists to make sculptural art and is absolutely stoked to be able to participate yet again in Downtown Dartmouth Ice Festival for all to enjoy! We can not wait to have Rob’s energy back with us in 2024!
LIAM TROMANS – Liam was born in Cape Breton and has been an artist since childhood. A professional logger for over 30 years, he began self-taught carving on his worksite. Liam gave up logging in 2016 to carve full time and his respect and love of nature is reflected in his works. He has participated in numerous carving events and competitions nationally and internationally. Spirit of Wood-2008 (Maple Ridge – 1st), Atlantic Canadian Chainsaw Competition-2013 (Fredericton, NB – 1st ), Powel River BC Logger Sports – 2017 (1st ), Eibauer International Competition (Germany – 1st ), Wood to Wonder-2018 (Gold river BC – 1st), World Class Competion-2018 (Hope BC – 1st ). Liam also attends Exhibitions and Shows to demonstrate and show carvings. He has recently returned to Nova Scotia and is based in the Amherst/Tidnish area.
DARREN HUDSON – Darren Hudson, 7-time World Champion Log Roller, and owner of the Timber Lounge. Enjoys carving as a way to satisfy creative desire. He has spent time with top carvers in the world but will be the first to admit he’s not one of them. While Darren doesn’t consider himself a top carver on the world stage, he still enjoys putting on a great show. This is Darren’s 2nd time at the Downtown Dartmouth Ice Festival and his performance will not disappoint!
CHANDANA KAPILA – Meet Chandana Kapila. Originally from Sri Lanka, Chan made his way to Canada and is now a very successful chef! Chan is currently the Executive Sous Chef at The Port Pub & Bistro in Port Williams, Nova Scotia. He is magnificent in the kitchen and with carving! He creates masterpieces on more than just ice, most recently winning Best Display at Kentville’s Soup Fest 2023 in support of the Community Soup Kitchen. Chan’s creativity and attention to detail makes for a fascinating show.
NSCAD STUDENT CARVER BIOS:
BUSOLA OSHO (she/her) – I’m a 2nd year student at NSCAD. My art practice focuses on things. I like things. Follow me on Instagram @toot.noodles for more things.
PAGE COWELL (she/her) – I am in my 4th year of interdisciplinary arts at NSCAD university. My work aims to make nonsense of the perfectly sensible. I have never turned down the opportunity to work with an unconventional material. Now this includes ice. If you would like to see my work, you can visit my website at www.pagecowell.com.
ELANOR JAZZAR (she/her) – Dedicated to the craftswomanship of monster making, my practice focuses on creating other worldly creature masks and coordinated prosthetics aiming to animate the uncanny in the film industry.
I am acquiring on-set special effects practical knowledge alongside my industry professional mentor Lindsay Thorne while developing my artistry by my picturesque studio space at NSCAD port campus and sharing my endeavors on Instagram, Twitch and YouTube @paraelanormal
ÉRIC-OLIVIER THÉRIAULT (he/him) – I’m a French-Canadian visual artist based in Kjipuktuk, Halifax, with a focus on sculpture. I like to think of my artwork as unexpected relics of our contemporary world. Driven by materiality, the connection with a material influences the way I create strategies to realize an idea or a concept.
You can see more of my artwork on my social @sprotch.plof
WILLIAM BAKER (he/him) – I am a 3rd year Fine Arts student at NSCAD. Born and raised in Nova Scotia, my art practice focuses meanly on my relation to my surroundings, the ocean and offroad path but also the city landscape and its architecture. Deepening my material exploration in all kinds of medium is crucial to my practice. To see more visit @willbake.r
CARLIN REID (They /Them/He) – I am a 2nd year sculpture student at NSCAD. I focus mainly on wood and metal work, focusing my practice on addressing the issues regarding surfing. I try to address the environmental impact surfing has on the ocean, while also trying to address my own whiteness and queerness in a sport and environment that has been colonialized. You can find my work on Instagram @creids_.
GEORGIA HELLIWELL (she/her) – As an interdisciplinary artist, focusing on sculpture and ceramics, I aim to encompass emotion related to familial relationships. Themes of the body in stages of loss and love are often present in my work.
ZEPHYR (he/him) – Zephyr is a sculptor based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After several years spent living in the UK, Denmark and Canada, he studied sculpture at Emily Carr University, where he developed an interest in wax as a medium. This fascination led to a tour of the wax anatomical collections of Europe, especially those of La Specula and the Josephinum, after which he was inspired to appropriate their obsolete yet masterful techniques in his own work. He has since been engaged in independent study, experimenting with various media such as concrete and pulp, and concepts exploring distortion, movement, and translucency. He has shown his work in multiple galleries and shows in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. He is currently studying Fine Art at NSCAD University.
LIAM O’BRIEN (he/him) – Liam is a first year sculpture student at NSCAD who is interested in exploring the relationship between art and architecture. His practice is concerned with creating devices and spaces which foster unique environmental experiences. To see more of Liam’s work you can visit his website liamobrien.myportfolio.com or his instagram @workingtitleprojects
NEIL KEHLER (he/him) – Neil makes art. Art pictures and things. Art makes Neil. @kneilius and neilkehlerphoto.cargo.site
LILI MAUD DOBELL (she/her) – Is an interdisciplinary 3rd year student from Tiohtià:ke/ Montréal, Québec currently studying at NSCAD University in Kjipuktuk/ Halifax, Nova Scotia. Through performance, movement and play, Maud explores how to engage with a space and allow her body to leave a mark in an environmentally sustainable way. This study on proof of performances is translated into sculptural work to exist independently.
@ossaturemoulee (Instagram)
GRACE HIRSCH (she/her) – Never having worked with ice before invites so much potential for me as an interdisciplinary artist! I intend to sculpt something enticing and classic.
JULIAN KIRZSAN (he/him) – I am a designer, conceptual artist currently studying at NSCAD. I like to challenge my own physical limits against the industrial constructs built around us. I get inspired and motivated by sounds and noises around me so it is taking an important part in my own art practice.
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About Lumen Lux
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https://waterfrontmediahfx.the902hxir.ca/30095-2
About Luminosity Circus (Mizz Anthrope)
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