He thinks it’s cool to travel the world as an ice sculptor, but turning ice blocks into beautiful objects is also a passion for Kevin Kapusi Starow.
While sculptures made of wood and stone won’t melt, it’s working with ice that lights his fire.
“Ice is like a living sculpture because as it melts, it changes, ” he says.
“And the way that light will refract through the ice at different stages of the melting process – to me, that’s captivating.”
After decades of honing his craft using chainsaws, angle grinders and chisels, Kapusi Starow typically commands fees of up to $15,000 per job.
But members of the public can see his work for free when he carves ice live at the Frankston Fire Festival this Saturday.
What started as carving Santas for Christmas in July displays at hotels where he worked as a chef has snowballed into a career.
Today, Kapusi Starow custom-carves pieces for weddings, Melbourne Cup marquees, TV ads and films.
He often competes overseas, sometimes sculpting all night in minus-40 degrees.
For the World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2024, Kapusi Starow and a US colleague, David “Pablo” Smith carved an ice dunny with a skeleton inside reading a newspaper.
At an “amazing” festival in Harbin, China 30,000 people passed through a display field the size of Melbourne’s Caulfield Racecourse, seeing the work of 1000 carvers. There were multi-storey buildings made of ice and a one-kilometre-long ice slide.
Kapusi Starow loves the camaraderie among the artists at these events.
“The sculpting community is a family,” he says. “If you need a piece of equipment or help fusing bits of ice together, they’ll come running to help, and you’ll go running to help them.”
He adds that the creative and logistical challenges of ice sculpting appeal to him.
Earlier this year, he crafted a flamingo, and for another job depicted the Roman god Neptune riding a lobster and slaying an octopus.
He once carved a cow and a pig for a global warming action group.
Ice sculpting is an unusual occupation. Kapusi Starow says in the mid-1990s he knew of at least 20 ice sculptors in Melbourne, but now estimates there are only five.
He would like to teach the art at TAFE so that others can continue the tradition.
Asked what qualities you need, he jokes, “insanity helps”, but says you need to visualise a piece and understand perspective.
“But firstly, you need determination. And to be open to learning from your mistakes.
“You can learn the basics of sculpting ice, but then it’s up to the individual to take it from there.”
The inaugural Frankston Fire Festival is a free event on Saturday from 4pm to 8:30pm at the Frankston Waterfront featuring fire dancing, live blues and folk music, Finnish-style saunas and local food and beverages.
Frankston City Mayor Sue Baker said the festival would show that Frankston was not just a summer destination.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
