Pittsfield’s 10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival Ice Sculptors Peter Vacchina and Robert Markey talk about some of the tools they use to shape large blocks of ice into stunning ice sculptures.
See Vacchina and Markey’s finished work in our full story on February’s 10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival in Pittsfield.
Read the full transcript:
Peter Vacchina, Artist: The fine touch comes in more with using the chisels than the chainsaw. Chainsaw, you kind of follow a line, but the chisel, you have to use the right amount of pressure so you don’t dig in and you want to be at the right angle so that you’re curving things around and taking off just enough.
And the — the smoother your — that your run is, the shinier the ice will be. And you can see that the ice is crystal — crystal clear, sparkling and we want to kind of enhance that with the work we’re doing.
Robert Markey, Artist: I use to chainsaw just to cut big chunks. So, cutting a letter like an “L” is pretty straight ahead, use a chainsaw to do that. When I do other carvings, I’ll use a chainsaw — and even the heart there — just to cut out a few pieces so I have to chisel a little less.
But I like, really, working with the chisels. You know, I’ve been a sculptor my whole life, so it’s working with the chisels on ice, which is really what I like to do.
Peter Vacchina: Carving the ice, it’s a public — public art piece, whereas when you’re in studio, you’re focusing…you may show it after it’s done, but the process itself is your personal work. Out here, the whole process is part of what we want to show.
Robert Markey: It’s hard to sculpt marble, it’s hard to sculpt wood, but ice is easy, so, you know, I try and recommend — I recommend it to a number of friends and say, “Hey, you know, just do some ice carving!”
It’s — it’s if — if it were — if you could do it all year round, that would be the first process if you’re learning how to sculpt to do ice, because it’s really kind of simple in some ways.
