6 artists who create with ice and snow

Azuma Makota is a Japanese artist who explores plants represented in different environments. For his "Iced Flowers" series, he put some flowers into the blocks of ice to observe how their state would change.

Makoto invites viewers to "enjoy the way in which the flowers and ice change themselves over time, where the ecosystem becomes an organic space in vivid contrast with the vitality of the flowers".

In 2016, the "Iced Flowers" project became the backdrop for Dries Van Noten’s women’s wear show in Paris.

A famous British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist Andy Goldsworthy represents the new generation of land art. He works with ice, snow and frost as well as many others nature materials. "I take the opportunities each day offers: if it is snowing, I work with snow, at leaf-fall it will be with leaves", says the artist.

Goldsworthy also underlines the importance of the place and the weather which take inseparable part of the resulting work. "The energy and space around a material are as important as the energy and space within. The weather — rain, sun, snow, hail, mist, calm — is that external space made visible".

His art works are presented in England, Scotland, Japan, the Australian Outback, in the U.S. and at the North Pole.

Photo: Andy Goldsworthy Digital Catalogue

Inspired by the work of Andy Goldsworthy, Richard Shilling explores themes like time, ecology and the constant flux of the seasons using the nature materials and photography. His land art "mainly consists of small scale ephemeral sculptures using natural materials found nearby. No glue or string is used, only what I can find in nature". Another important element of his work is photography, which helps to capture the most vital moment of each sculpture. To capture an image is fundamental, because "for the most ephemeral works noone would ever see the results without photography and light is an important element of my artwork".

He also has created the site for kids, where he tries "…to encourage everyone I can to discover the joys of making land art". On the website called LandArtforKids "there are loads of ideas on there for anyone of any age to try their hand at making natural art sculptures".

Photo: Richard Shilling website

Simon Beck has been creating his snow art works for ten years, and he has made 175 snow drawings. Each of the pictures covers an area about 100×100 meters, and there mostly prevail mathematical patterns and geometrical designs. He walks with the compass that he uses firstly to measure out the important points and then to count the passes to create his wonderful and refreshing pictures.

"When you have a blank piece of paper you draw on it,' says the artist, 'so drawing on a blank snowfall seemed like a natural thing to do".

Photo: Snow Art, a book by Simons Beck

The "Ice Watch" is an installation created by the Danish artists Olafur Eliasson and Minik Rosing. The main idea of "Ice Watch" is to show the problem of the climate change to the society and catch the attention of people. The first installation was made in the central city square of Copenhagen in October 2014, and then in December 2015, on the Place du Pantheon in Paris. The artists used 80 tones of ice from a fjord outside Nuuk, Greenland, which were arranged in a clock formation. After several days, the blocks melted.

"Let's appreciate this unique opportunity — we, the world, can and must act now. Let’s transform climate knowledge into climate action. As an artist I hope my works touch people […] Art has the ability to change our perceptions and perspectives on the world, and Ice Watch makes the climate challenges we are facing tangible", said Olafur Eliasson

See more on The Iced Watch website

Nele Azevedo is a Brazilian artist who has launched the "Minimum Monument" in 2001. It is a project of urban intervention in public spaces in the contemporary cities. The main idea of this site-specific art work is to catch the attention of the society to the problem of global warming as well as to the tragic moments of the world history.
Hundreds of ice sculptures are taken to central places of various cities. With the help of the passers-by they are left to melt. The sculptures are tiny men and women, 20 cm tall, placed on stairways.

Photo and video: Nele Azevedo website

On the cover: Nele Azevedo Monumento minimo (detail)