TEAMS CREATE SNOWY WORKS OF ART
Ceyhun Konak works on his team's sculpture entitled "Organic Cubes."
Members of Minnesota team Doing our Best discuss plans for their snow sculpture. The team took third place in the juried competition.
Team Mexico Captain Carlos Miguel Ramirez Pereyra holds up a model of his team's sculpture, entitled "Nocturnal Ascent."
ABOVE: Ceyhun Konak of Team Turkiye explains the process for creating a snow sculpture.
BELOW: Members of Team Mexico discuss their sculpture with Winterfest spectators.
This year's America's Snow Sculpting Invitational had a bit of an international flair.
The competition which was held Jan. 28 through Feb. 1 as part of Lake Geneva Winterfest, hosted by representatives from VISIT Lake Geneva, featured teams from throughout the country, as well as a team from Mexico and a team from Turkey.
This is the first year that international teams were invited to participate in the competition.
Participating teams worked on their sculptures in Flat Iron Park and Riviera Plaza on Wrigley Drive in downtown Lake Geneva.
Team Mexico Captain Carlos Miguel Ramirez Pereyra said he and his fellow teammates, Israel Magna Rodriguez and Matthew Mark Seeley, were excited to be invited to participate in the competition.
The team members worked on a sculpture entitled, "Nocturnal Ascent," which depicted an owl.
When a spectator asked, "Where in Mexico do you practice snow sculpting?"
Pereyra responded by jokingly saying, "In the freezer of Sam's Club."
However, he admits that Mexico's weather often is not conducive for snow sculpting.
"It's a hot and humid place with palm trees," Pereyra said. "When we come to the competitions, that's our practice."
Pereyra said the key to keeping warm while working in Lake Geneva's frigid temperatures is to remain active.
"You just keep working nonstop," Pereyra said. "That's the trick."
Pereyra and his teammates are not new to snow sculpting. The team captain has been participating in snow sculpting competitions throughout the world since 2008.
Seeley has been involved with snow sculpting competitions for about 20 years and manufactures his own snow sculpting tools. He also has served as a judge for the St. Paul Winter Carnival and helped organize the Nebraska State Snow Sculpting Competition in 2019.
Rodriguez has been involved with snow sculpting since 2017.
In addition to snow sculpting, Pereyra has participated in sand and hay sculpting competitions in France and Italy.
"It's different materials, but you can express your ideas as equally as you do in the snow," he said.
Pereyra said he and his teammates enjoyed having the opportunity to travel to Lake Geneva and be involved with the competition.
"We have never been here before, and we love the lake," Pereyra said. "It's amazing with the view, and the people are very kind. We're very happy to be here."
Team Turkey
Team Turkiye members, which consisted of Ceyhun Konak, Cinar Bulent and Tayfun Konak of Turkey, created a sculpture entitled "Organic Cubes."
Captain Ceyhun Konak said his team has participated in sculpting competitions in China, Japan, Europe and Canada. Ceyhun recently completed a large metal sculpture depicting historic events in Turkey.
"We've traveled maybe seven times around the world," Ceyhun said. "But generally, we have worked with snow the last five years."
Ceyhun said even though temperatures were cold throughout the competition, he has worked in colder temperatures in the past, including minus 40-degree temperatures in China and minus 35-degree temperatures in Michigan.
"China is colder than it is here. But here, it's very cold," he said. "Cold is OK, but with the winds it's very, very hard conditions for us."
Ceyhun and his teammates work as fine art and sculpting professors at universities in Turkey.
"We teach all kinds of material, and we work with them, too," he said.
Ceyhun said he and his teammates enjoyed showcasing their sculpting talents in Lake Geneva and indicated that he would like to return in the future.
"It's very beautiful. We like the buildings and the lake," Ceyhun said. "It should be very beautiful in the spring and summertime. I would like to come here in the summer."
From Michigan
Members from several U.S. teams also participated in the competition for the first time.
Spencer Sharf, member of the Soggy Mitten Boys of Michigan, said his teammates, Adam Dennison and Thomas Ward, competed in the event about three years ago, but this is the first year he has been involved.
"After years of begging and pleading and promising that I would shovel and work hard, they brought me along," Sharf said.
Sharf and his teammates have been participating in snow sculpting competitions for about 15 years. He also has participated in sand and pumpkin sculpting competitions, and operates a business called S3ARTS, in which he produces commissioned paintings and sculptures.
Members of the Soggy Mitten Boys worked on a sculpture entitled "Guardian of the High Banner," depicting a Valkyrie. The teammates had worked on the sculpture's design for about a year.
"It was like, 'What if we did a really big flag, and that's all we had,' then as the months went by we started planning and drawing, and we came up with this Valkyrie warrior," Sharf said. "So, we kind of worked backwards in a way. The meaning and the symbolic significance kind of came along with the design."
Sharf said Lake Geneva's cold temperatures were appropriate for working on a snow sculpture.
"The weather, of course, is beautiful for this," Sharf said. "If you start feeling cold it means you're not working hard enough, so I've been freezing."
Sharf said he enjoyed his first time participating in the competition and his first trip to Lake Geneva.
"When we were here the first few hours, I actually called my wife and said, 'Pack up, we're moving. This is our home now,'" Sharf said.
Award winners
The winning teams for the 2026 America's Snow Sculpting Invitational include the following the juried competition:
â– First place, Up to Snow Good of Wisconsin for their sculpture "K'Inch Ahau and Ixchel"
â– Second place, Sculptura Borealis of Wisconsin for their sculpture "Controller of Worlds"
â– Third place, Doing our Best of Minnesota for their sculpture "It's a Moth and Mushrooms."
The Artists' Choice Award, selected by the snow sculpting teams, was presented to Sculptura Borealis, and the People's Choice Award, voted on by Winterfest attendees, was presented to Cave People from Space of Illinois for their sculpture "Good Oy."
