Art Burn at the Silver Skate Festival

The recent temperature plunge came at the worst possible time for the Silver Skate Festival. It was easily thirty below with the windchill this evening, and you could really feel it in the relatively wide open Hawrelak Park. To be honest, had it not been for the fact that Sharon and I had agreed to guest judge the 2011 Art Burn fire sculpture competition, we might not have made it out tonight. But I’m glad we did, because it was quite the show! And what’s a winter festival without a little cold, right?

There were six Art Burn fire sculpture artists: Maria Butler, Randall Fraser, Will Truchon, Tanya Garner-Tomas, Vergilio le Paz and Marissa Kochanski. Here’s a little photo tour of the evening.

We arrived early enough to check out the awesome snow sculptures.

Some artists were still busily working!

Sharon just had to sit in the Yelp throne.

Gather around the fire, that’s how you keep warm!

Vibe Tribe performed just before the Art Burn.

I know they had fire in their hands, but I bet they were still freezing.

This was Marissa Kochanski’s sculpture before the burn.

Here it is during the burn. Her sculpture was the winner!

More sculptures burning!

Randall Fraser’s “hand” sculpture was another favorite.

You can see the rest of my photos here.

Sunday night is “Fire in the Belly”, during which a larger communal sculpture created by the artists will be ignited. So if you missed out on the fire tonight, you still have an opportunity tomorrow! Just make sure you bundle up.

Thanks to Erin and Ritchie for having us, and congrats on another successful year!