They have been travelling all year since last February and now they are back in Winnipeg. The Voyageurs bring with them a host of professionals in snow sculpting.
This sculpture must be my favourite, the makers are from Holland, so that choice is easily made. However, there are other sculptures that definitely are worth looking at. Come and take a look inside…
This year, the sculptors come from Holland, Saskatchewan, Québec, Nova Scotia, Spain, USA and many more countries. The quality of the sculptures this year is very high. Many are so detailed that it’s difficult to comprehend in a glance.
St George is still fighting dragons in Spain. The sculpture is marvellous with details.
St George and the dragon
Not an easy one to imagine, but you’ll have to look for some time to understand all the details and which piece belongs to whom (dragon or saint). The back of the dragon was a lot of work. Take a look:
The dragon’s back
Other sculptures are very fragile and miraculously stay erect.
Soon gone
This sculpture is so thin that every little crack had to be spotted and repaired. Unfortunately the repairman was apparently put off balance for a second and the result was as follows:
The end of a fine sculpture
So, the only way to make do with what was left of the sculpture was this:
You can still distinguish some original elements, but the essence of the original sculpture disappeared.
Different views of speed
A horse with four heads can’t run fast, can it? Well this sculpture from Québec seems to show that the different heads do not always agree with each other and that speed is now only a matter of opinion.
The sculpture at the entrance of the Voyageur Parc has no name. It is composed of two distinct elements: the cubistic dogs and the finely detailed voyageurs in the dogsled behind them.
Going to battle
The guys from Minnesota in the USA were definitely going to battle with their sculpture. The three masked riders on their horses looked ready to attack whoever happened to be in their path.
Fractured eco
Nova Scotia is in the cubistic period visibly. Fractured Eco is their creation. The essence of the sculpture eludes me, but then again I have never been a poetic type of person.
Express yourself
Express yourself from Saskatchewan is another piece of work. The faces on one side express feelings the little boy inside the heads definitely doesn’t feel. He needs to express himself in the shadow of the big masks.
Le repère
France came this year with “The HideOut” or “Le repère”. A French way of saying “The Hut”. Perhaps. The French have the habit of systematically omitting the English translation of their titles…
There are many other sculptures, big and small, on the Festival du Voyageur this year. Go on, I know you want to go there. Don’t let the –28C stop you! You are Canadians, right? As for all who read this blog and are nowhere near Winnipeg, don’t worry, I will be writing more about this year’s edition of the Festival.