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Wintercraft Proposal Image for "Midwinter Light - Creating Art with Ice and Light", a candle and LED lit ice luminary event in The Commons park, downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Dusk -10pm, January 27th-31st, 2017.
One would think with a large ice luminary event to install in the next few days, my thoughts about Mother Nature would be generous and kind. It is, after all, because of her gift of cold weather that we can even attempt to create something as beautiful as an ice luminary. But, you see, in Minneapolis, where it often blows cold, she has taken a vacation for about 6 days. The warmth she brought could have wreaked havoc with our progress to make ice luminaries of all shapes and sizes. But, I bring GOOD NEWS! We planned ahead . . .
Cold Storage Warehouse in Fridley, Minnesota.
We boxed up all the ice luminaries that we had made through the previous cold snap and trucked them off to a cold storage warehouse where they are snug and cold in their wrappers. On Thursday morning, a truck will drop off 7 pallets of ice cold luminaries at The Commons park and we will work like crazy to assemble them all into a beautiful candle and LED lit event.
This is how we usually store our Ice Glass until we are ready to use it. With warm weather on the way, we moved it into deep shade and covered it with a large sheet of plastic.
The Ice Glass we made for Midwinter Light had a harder time. We were unable to store them away with the rest of the ice because of their large size. We did find a nice place in the shade where they could relax and think cold thoughts. Are we worried? Yes and no. We would love for the rows of Ice Glass to be as strong and tall as we left them, but we also live by the credo,"What doesn't kill ice glass makes it more beautiful." So, if they survived, they will find an honored spot in the woods of The Commons. The aged and crackled ice makes the light dance, so we'll give it center stage!
This old globe ice lantern was sun-kissed for several days to evoke a "cut crystal" look. Glorious! This beautiful photo was taken by Bruce Challgren - Thanks Bruce!
The Midwinter Light Event will Evolve
If Mother Nature won and the Ice Glass did not survive, a new batch will be made as soon as the weather will allow it. Then, we will bring it down, install it and light it up. We will make the first night of Midwinter Light as grand as possible, but please note that every day that is cold enough to make ice, we will make it, bring it down and light it up!
WHERE: The Commons is the park that lays out in front of the new U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis. And our Midwinter Light event will be taking place in the woods of The Commons park which is at the farthest point away from the stadium.
WHEN: We will be building the ice luminaries all day Thursday (Jan 26) and Friday (Jan 27) with the plan to light it all up that night thru Tuesday the 31st of January. Of course, the sun will be lighting up the ice during the day, too.
I hope you make it down - and if you see me, please stop and say hi!
Enjoy the Glow!
Jennifer Shea Hedberg, Ice Wrangler for Wintercraft
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