Winterlude

Winterlude is an annual celebration in Ottawa and Gatineau of the very best season of them all. I took these first two shots in late January on Sparks Street, one of the sites for the festival. Carvers were hard at work on a sculpture. 

The street is one block south of Parliament Hill, and has long since been turned into a pedestrians only zone. I'm still not convinced it's the ideal spot for ice sculptures, but such is life. Along with ice sculptures are art pieces and interactive multi-media, particularly vivid at night. Our first sight is a set of ice sculptures called INFRA, painted to look as if we're seeing them in thermal vision.

It's a pack of wolves- life sized, arranged among evergreens. I'm pretty sure it's ice, as one could see the effects of thaw on the sculptures.

Along the street, various shops have ice sculptures to advertise themselves during the festival.

Wazaakone Woodland Bears is the title of this work by Adam Monture and Jeremy Freiburger.

The first of the ice sculptures, taken on this early morning visit shortly after the first weekend of the festival. This is Metis Life During The Buffalo Hunt. We'll get more of a look at it tomorrow.