Ice Follies 2006

Peter Von Tiesenhausen, Drift, 2006

Materials: Snow

Peter Von Tiesenhausen’s project evokes the majesty and violent perfection of the natural world and its rhythms. He is interested in investing contemporary existence with a more profound connection to the radiant of nature in a manner that is neither pure ecology nor distanced irony.

Although Von Tiesenhausen planned on using chainsaws and other ice carving tools to build a structure out of ice either below the surface, above, or both depending on the thickness of the ice. He decided to work with the materials that were presented to him by the site. After ten days of blizzards have covered the lake in meters of snow and after a particularly portentous snowy owl sighting, Von Tiesenhausen decided to work with the snow to create his Ice Follies.

Artist Bio:

Peter Von Tiesenhausen is a Canadian artist living in rural northeastern Alberta. He attended Alberta College of Art briefly in 1979 and 1981 and has been a full-time practicing visual artist since 1990. He has exhibited and lectured widely across Canada as well as in Europe and the United States. The land on which he lives constitutes his primary and ongoing artwork and in 1995 he claimed copywriter over that land. He has been successful on several occasions defending his artwork against the incursions of other corporate interests. His practice includes painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, event, video, and on occasion, performance.