Local artist wins Wisconsin State Snow Sculpting Championship
Last weekend at the 24th Annual Wisconsin State Snow Sculpting Championship (Racine, Wis., Jan. 10-12), local artist Steve Bateman did pretty darn well. He and his partner, Wauwatosa artist David Andrews, took 1st place (securing an invitation to the 2014 national competition), as well as the "Sculptors Choice" award.
Bateman and Andrews, along with Eau Claire artist Jason Anhorn, worked together last year to win 2013's National Competition in Lake Geneva. And you might recognize Bateman and Anhorn as "The Starvin' Carvists," who sculpt snow at Volume One's Winter After Hours event every Thursday night in Eau Claire's Boyd Park.
Bateman tells us the Sculptors Choice award is selected by the artists competing for the state championship, while the main award is a combination of public votes, sculptors' votes, and a selected judge panel. This year's competition was between 16 two-person teams.
The winning piece, entitled "The Architects Wheelhouse," was designed by Andrews and inspired by Gothic architecture. Bateman says, "It's a woman architect lost in her thoughts about her design."
This will be a busy winter for the group, as Bateman, Anhorn, and Andrews will be joining forces to sculpt a large commission piece for Kohler, Wisconsin's Winterfest (Jan. 24-25); to defend their titles at the United States National Snow Carving Competition in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin (Feb. 1); and to create multiple sculptures around the State Capitol building for the Madison Winter Festival (Feb 15-16).
