Wednesday 27 January 2010
Cold snap: students' camera designs win international snow sculpture awards in freezing Harbin
The university team with one of their sculptures
A team of intrepid student designers from Nottingham Trent University has just returned to the UK after claiming two remarkable prizes at international snow sculpting competitions in northeast China. While the UK has recently been experiencing some of its coldest weather conditions for years, spare a thought for this quartet who braved temperatures of -25°C as they transformed huge blocks of snow into intricate designs for the event in Harbin.
Fine art students Alex Pain, Krystina Naylor and Tim Hattrick, and decorative arts student, Helen Crump, finished equal second in the Second International University Snow Sculpture Competition. They then went on to take equal third in the much tougher 15th Harbin International Snow Sculpture Competition. About 30 design teams from nine countries took part in the University event, while 20 teams took part in the international competition – the Nottingham students finishing behind teams from China and Korea, and level with Japan and Russia.
The team used chisels, shovels and grindstone to sculpt designs representing different models of camera – called 'Exposure' and 'Lost Memories' – from the two blocks of snow. They initially came up with their own theme of analogue technology and the idea for the camera sculptures grew from there. The film camera was sculpted to look broken, as a reminder to people not to forget valuable things of the past. Teams were judged on theme, artistic expression, creativity and technical skill.
Team leader, Alex Pain, who was invited to give a speech on behalf of all teams at the start of the University event, said: “We all had the best time and are delighted with the result. Snow sculpture is very hard, physical work, but as a team we all agreed to never give in, and I think this is what brought us success in the competitions. After the University competition we became much more confident and were extremely proud of our sculpture for the international competition. The teams we were up against included professional sculptors and some of them had been competing in Harbin for the last ten years.”
Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of College of Art and Design and Built Environment at Nottingham Trent University, Ann Priest, said: “This is the fourth year that Nottingham Trent University has been represented in Harbin by a team of students from the College of Art and Design and Built Environment. Our involvement in the competition comes out of our research partnership and relationship with the Harbin Engineering University, who host our team and support their preparations.
“Achieving awards in both the inter-university student competition, and the international event, is a significant achievement for our team, under record breaking weather conditions, and particularly as they were competing against skilled and practiced snow sculptors. I am sure they will remember this extraordinary event for all of their lives. We are really very proud of their success and looking forward to hearing all about their Harbin experience.”
Notes to editors:
The International University Snow Sculpture Competition is the only such international event in the world for universities. This year’s competition was built on the success of last year’s which was part of the Winter Universiade Olympic Games held in Harbin.
The Harbin International Snow Sculpture Competition, meanwhile, is one of the four most popular international competitions in the world, with the other three held annually in Japan, USA and Canada.
The Nottingham Trent University team were supported by partner institution, Harbin Engineering University, which offered the students hospitality, training and technical support during the event.
Press enquiries please contact Dave Rogers, Senior Press Officer, Nottingham Trent University, on telephone +44 (0)115 848 8782 or via email, or Therese Easom, Press and Media Relations Manager, Nottingham Trent University, on telephone +44 (0)115 848 8774 or via email.
