Cool art “Momentum,” an ice sculpture carved by Broadview Heights resident Aaron Costic, on display at Crocker Park this weekend. Costic and three other ice sculptors who will be competing at the Winter Olympics next month in Italy practiced their craft this weekend at the retail development. (Photo by Larry Bennet)

Ice sculptors practice at Crocker Park for Olympics
By Kevin Kelley
Westlake
Published Jan. 25, 2006

Shoppers at Crocker Park this weekend had the opportunity to pause and marvel at the splendor of large ice sculptures created by some of the most talented ice sculptors in the country.

Four ice sculptors converged at the center of Westlake’s prime retail and housing development to practice works of art they will sculpt at the Winter Olympics next month in Torino, Italy.

For the past two decades, the Olympic Games have included cultural events and activities in addition to the better-known athletic contests, explained Aaron Costic, 34, of Broadview Heights. A winner of a bronze medal in the 1998 ice sculpting competition in the Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, Costic works full time in ice sculpting as owner of Elegant Ice Creations. The 35 or so sculptures he makes every week are sold to hotels, caterers and country clubs for an average price of $270, Costic said.

Costic began ice carving while in culinary school in 1989.

“The instructor encouraged me to go to competitions where I would learn more about it,” Costic said.

The Crocker Park exhibition was a final major practice for Costic before competing against 40 carvers from 24 nations in Torino.

His work, entitled “Momentum,” was formed out of eight blocks of ice which he makes in his store. The piece features rays emerging from a star.

“It’s about momentum,” Costic explained. “It’s about the momentum of an idea.”

Ben Rand of Florida sands down his ice sculpture of a Greek god Sunday at Crocker Park. (Photos by Larry Bennet)

The rays traveling from the inside of a star represent the process of an idea being born and then presented to the world, Costic said.

Ben Rand, 27, of West Palm Beach, Fla., also began ice carving while in culinary school. Creating forms from ice — about 30 to 40 a week, he said — is his full time job, too.

While his sculpture was an ancient Greek god representing the spirit of the Olympics, Rand still had not given his work a name.

Both men’s creations, which stood about seven to eight feet tall, took about 11 hours to make over Saturday and Sunday.

In addition to being subject to the thermometer, the intricate works are also in danger of being ruined by an inadvertent error on the artist’s part.

The ice sculptors have a variety of methods and tools, including the use of dry ice to help freeze parts together, to repair mistakes or accidents. But they don’t always work.

“If a piece breaks clean, you can repair it,” Rand said. “But if it shatters, it’s not coming back together.”

For more information about Costic and his sculptures, visit his Web site at www.elegantice.com.