Cool Sculpt in Mountain Village: Winners announced

21 Jan Cool Sculpt in Mountain Village: Winners announced

CoolSculpt 2011 in Mountain Village was a fantastic event with the four sculpting teams putting forth inspirational and creative efforts.

Sculptures were presented throughout the Mountain Village core areas: Heritage Plaza, near the bottom of Chair 4, and at the top of Chair 1 Meadows Run in the Sunset Plaza. New for this year was judging by Ben Rand. Ben is the 2010 Gold Medalist at the Olympic Ice Art World Championships. He judged remotely based on images because he was busy developing and testing new sculpture concepts for an extensive competition tour.

1st Place went to “Love Fear,” sculpted by The Telluride Mountain School Middle and High school art classes. The prize:  $750.  Sponsored by Wells Fargo.

The presentation was very involved, including two peacocks fully fanned out enveloping a striking cobra. Ben wrote: “This was a difficult sculpture/design to complete in snow. The artist did a great job making the sculpture appear larger then the original size of the block. The addition of negative space is the best of the four… the tail feathers having space cut out of them, this was done very well. This carving has great presence from the front view. A little more shape and detail could have been put into the peacocks' bodies and heads. Very well done!”

 2nd Place went to “Are You My Mommy?” sculpted by Mr. and Mrs. Joe Cannella. The prize: $600. Sponsored by La Piazza and La Pizzeria.

The piece was a baby dinosaur coming out of its egg. Our judge explained: “Great idea and concept. Very nice touch having the dinosaur claws, foot and tail poking out of the egg. The tail is sculpted very well and has very nice flow to it. Including the raised detail of the tail spine shows a great carving skill. This sculpture is creative and shows clarity of the concept.” 

Other highlights: The shell is carved proportionate; great clean finished appearance; very nice detail with the head, including the teeth and facial features like the nostrils. Worth the short stroll over to the Sunset Plaza to experience this great work!

3rd Place went to “Architectural Space." The prize: $400. Sponsored by Refined Custom Homes.

This was a first effort by a team headed by Bruce and Jody Wright of One Architects, which registered a lot of firsts. Most notably their team included CoolSculpt’s first pregnant lady to sculpt. Our judge was informed of the interactive nature of this sculpture as the inside of the structure is hollowed out for a sitting room complete with Koozie holders. Ben stated: “That is a great interactive concept that will let some children have a very unique experience. Very nice work on achieving a clean and finished look, but I think you could have added more artistic skills to the sculpture by carving some detail in the building.”

4th place went to “Lego Disaster” by the D.O. Double G’s. Sponsored by Telluride Ski and Golf.

“I love this theme; it brings me back to my childhood playing with Legos. Art and sculpture is meant to evoke emotion, or thought into the viewer, which you have achieved here. As far as technical skills, when choosing to carve Legos or something that is flat you need to make them as straight as possible. I like the trees a lot, they look awesome, but they just need to be more clean and straight with flat edges. This piece has great open space inside it and tells a nice story of the one Lego man building another,” explained Ben.

Thanks to the Telluride’s Council for the Arts and Humanities who sponsored this year’s $2000 prize money. Additional prizes included a snowmobile trip for four from Telluride Snowmobile Adventures and a massage from Fairmont Heritage Place Franz Klammer Lodge.

CoolSculpt is organized by Andy Krueger of Mountain Video Productions LLC; with generous Title Sponsor support from Telluride Mountain Village Owners Association; Presenting sponsors: Refined Custom Homes, Telluride Ski and Golf, Wells Fargo Bank, LaPiazza/La Pizzeria; and contributing sponsors: The Town of Mountain Village, S.U.N.R.I.S.E. Inc., Telluride Rentals, AS Horner Construction, and Mountain Video Productions LLC.