There’s an old joke about art historians and how we fall asleep when the lights go on! **
 |
| Left to right: Mike Martino, Tom Queoff, Mike Sponholtz |
If you follow this “logic,” Team USA Snow Sculptors – Mike Martino, Tom Queoff, and Mike Sponholtz – come to life when the temperature hovers around zero.
And that’s exactly what this week’s weather promises as the Woodson Art Museum welcomes Mike, Tom, and Mike back to Wausau for the twenty-second time.
With the mercury expected to remain in the single digits and below zero through the end of the week, the snow sculptors will enjoy ideal (for them!) conditions in which to carve and sculpt one of their most ambitious creations here to date.
Dubbed “Slay It with Snow,” this year’s project features a giant slide – yes, it will be interactive when completed for as long as the weather cooperates – carved in relief to resemble a fire-breathing dragon.
 |
| 2010 Snow Sculpture Celebrated “Las Artes de Mexico” |
You can watch Team USA at work in the Museum’s sculpture garden from Wednesday afternoon through Saturday morning, February 9 through 12, and be among the first to take a ride down the slide at noon on Saturday when we’ll christen the dragon slide with hot chocolate.
Mike, Tom, and Mike love to play in the snow as their Wausau-area fans well know from past years. Enjoy these images of past Team USA creations at the Woodson Art Museum and get ready to greet the dragon.
P.S. The sculptors have planned a clever tip-of-the-hat to Good Design: Stories from Herman Miller, currently on view in the Museum’s galleries. You’ll have to be a super-sleuth to find the hidden detail.
 |
| 2006 Snow Sculpture Celebrated Paul O. Zelinsky’s “Awful Ogre’s Awful Day” |
** Traditionally, art history classes were conducted in dark classrooms with slides projected onto screens. Hence the joke, i.e., art history students would come to life when the lights went off!
