Tianshan network reporter Ma Shuyu
On February 4, the reporter met Yuan Wenyu on the same day, which was the opening day of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and she had just arrived in Altay City from Burjin County. Earlier, Yuan Wenyu received the task of making four ice sculptures in Burjin County before the opening of the Winter Olympics, Yuan Wenyu and her team gave up Chinese New Year's Eve night to reunite with their families, and worked hard for three days and three nights in the cold winter to complete the production of ice sculptures on schedule.
Yuan Wenyu is in her studio. Photo by reporter Ma Shuyu
Yuan Wenyu is a member of the Xinjiang Artists Association, the secretary general of the Altay Regional Artists Association, a member of the Chinese Folk Paper-cutting Society, and a non-hereditary inheritor of folk paper-cutting in The Altay region. Her first contact with snow sculpture was in 2000, when the "Snow Capital" Altay undertook the International Ice and Snow Art Festival, due to the shortage of manpower, the professional team invited from Outside Harbin selected 10 local art students to help, Yuan Wenyu was one of them, and she has been fascinated by this art ever since.
Yuan Wenyu's team work "Meet the Snow To Welcome the Winter Olympics". Photo/Interviewee provided
After years of precipitation, in 2015, Yuan Wenyu began to form his own team to make ice and snow sculptures for the local area for free. In 2018, she set up her own company, Xinjiang Ice and Snow Art Culture and Art Co., Ltd., and began to produce creative works in the local area. Up to now, her team has created more than 40 ice sculptures and more than 100 snow sculptures. When working outdoors, low temperatures are the biggest challenge, with average temperatures on the mountain averaging around minus 26 degrees Celsius during the day and more than minus 30 degrees Celsius at night. Yuan Wenyu's pickup truck often had thick clothes, and even the glasses frames were replaced with wooden ones.
Ice and snow carving techniques are not the same, Yuan Wenyu told reporters, snow pays attention to the texture of blocks, surfaces and details, while ice considers more about the transparency of the composition and the angle of light illumination. "Xinjiang's ice and snow resources are unique, but in fact, natural ice and snow will be less dense than artificial ice and snow, carving is more difficult, usually a work from design to production takes a long cycle, you need to consider the artistic presentation of the work from two-dimensional to three-dimensional conversion, and at the same time consider the practicality of the shape according to the density of snow." Yuan Wenyu said.
Yuan Wenyu's snow sculpture team took a group photo in front of the works in the Kanas scenic spot. Photo/Interviewee provided
Kanas Scenic Area Creative Snow Sculpture Garden is Yuan Wenyu's proud work, in order to make the work more creative, she read a lot of materials, and finally found inspiration from the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", borrowed everyone's curiosity about the Kanas Lake monster, with the "divine beast" as the prototype, created 22 works, the work is exquisite, integrated with nature.
Another work that makes Yuan Wenyu proud is a snow sculpture in front of the Altay Experimental Primary School. The words "Meet Xuedu and Welcome the Winter Olympics" are very eye-catching, and citizens rush to take photos, while children laugh and play on the snow sculpture slide. The front of the snow sculpture depicts the Olympic mascot "Ice Pier", "Snow Rongrong" and the Altay Ice and Snow IP image "Ale" celebrating the New Year together, with snowflakes and ancient petroglyphs carved on the left, and modern skiing shapes carved on the right, with slides designed on both sides.
Yuan Wenyu took a photo in front of her work Photo/Interviewee provided
"I am very fortunate to have done this work, I can turn my favorite art into productivity, and now the company's income has risen from 300,000 yuan per year to one million yuan, and it has also trained its own sculptor!" Yuan Wenyu said proudly. She currently has 12 permanent employees at her company, of which Kazakh boy Ganati is one. In two years, he has gone from a small worker who earns 160 yuan a day to a carver assistant who earns 300 yuan a day. Next year, Yuan Wenyu is also preparing to promote him to deputy carver, and his daily income will reach 600 yuan.
At present, Yuan Wenyu's biggest wish is to go to Harbin Sun Island to participate in an international ice and snow festival and learn from more masters. At the same time, she also hopes to promote ice and snow carving as a training program and drive more people to participate!