‘Hidden messages’ get snow sculpture ousted from world championship

The U.S. entry in the World Snow Sculpting Championship, in Stillwater, Minn., has been removed because of last-minute changes that depicted sign language messages including “ICE out.”

The sculptors’ original design was a sphere of outstretched hands. But during the competition the three-person team decided instead to have the hands displaying gestures such as peace signs and American Sign Language.

Among the messages spelled out in ASL: “ICE out,” “love,” “unity” and “resist.”

“Unfortunately, Team USA did not comply with the rules of the competition,” Robin Anthony-Evenson, president of the Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce & Foundation, said Wednesday. Event organizers received “several phone calls and complaints” about the sculpture, she said.

The event’s rules state that “teams must adhere to their original submitted sketch” and “sculptures must respect cultural and social values, and avoid offensive, controversial, political, or inappropriate themes,” Anthony-Evenson said.

The U.S. team’s captain — St. Paul artist and veteran snow sculptor Dusty Thune — said the decision to alter the design of “A Call to Arms” came on Jan. 14, the first day of the competition. Renee Macklin Good, 37, was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.

“Upon digging into the snow block, we found the snow pack to be so poorly packed and full of debris that the outstretched arms we were carving kept crumbling and falling off,” he said. “We made the choice to focus on bigger hands and shorter arms to try and salvage our piece. Sometimes the medium (snow) decides the way a piece is going to be created. Sometimes external events also have a hand in shaping what a piece will become.”

After learning of the changes, event organizers modified the sculpture on Jan. 19 by removing some of the hand signs, Anthony-Evenson said. On Monday, Jan. 26, the entire sculpture was removed from Stillwater’s Lowell Park.

“In hindsight, we should have taken it down right away, but we were trying to be nice and manage the situation without having to do that,” Anthony-Evenson said. “We learned there were more hidden messages in the sculpture than first thought. That is why we decided to take the whole thing down.

“The whole point of the World Snow Celebration is to unify the world and bring the world to Stillwater and have a family event without any controversy one way or the other. This event is about bringing people together, not dividing them.”

Anthony-Evenson, who knows ASL, said the hands spelled out “ICE out” by using the sign for “ice” and the “resistance fist.”

“It was very creatively done, and it was not very easy to read,” she said. “You had to look at it very carefully to notice it, but clearly it was noticed. We appreciated the positive messaging that we did see like ‘love’ and ‘peace,’ but at the end of the day, the sculpture was modified from the submitted design. The submitted design had open fingers.”

The removal was “procedural in nature, unrelated to judging outcomes, and did not involve penalties or sanctions against the artists,” she said.

The championship featured sculptures by teams from 16 countries. The Canadian team took first prize; the U.S. team, called House of Thune, did not place.

In a letter to Thune dated Jan. 20, Anthony-Evenson, Stillwater Mayor Ted Kozlowski and Sara Jespersen, the event’s co-chair, expressed their “deep disappointment” regarding the team’s actions.

“As you were made aware, the rules governing this international competition are explicit: political symbols, statements, or messaging of any kind are strictly prohibited,” they wrote. “Despite this clear policy, inappropriate content was incorporated into your sculpture. This was not an oversight. It was a conscious decision, and it was a selfish one.”

The letter went on to say Team USA’s actions negatively impacted event organizers, required financial resources to address and damaged the partnership with a nonprofit sponsor.

“At a time when unity and mutual respect are more important than ever, introducing this type of messaging into this forum was unnecessary and divisive,” the letter said.

Kozlowski said he hopes Thune is allowed to participate in future World Snow Sculpting Championships.

“It’s a tough time in Minnesota right now, and so I think we should give everybody some grace,” he said. “I completely understand why they did it, especially on that day.”

Team New Zealand member Cat McGurk expressed her anger about the sculpture’s removal in a post shared on social media.

“We are told (the event) is ‘welcoming of international cultural exchange and artistic expression,’” she wrote. “In tearing down this sculpture (which, quite literally, is a call to arms to unite people), what message will the international community hear? … The act was, in the end, more political than the sculpture itself.”

Thune, a special-education teacher for St. Paul Public Schools, has competed in four of the five World Snow Sculpting Championship competitions in Stillwater; House of Thune took first place in 2023.

This year, Thune asked students and staff at the high school where he works “to give me their messages to convey in the piece,” he said. “It had to include their voices or it wouldn’t be as meaningful. I believe we followed the spirit of our piece: to stand up and to speak out. We stand behind our work.

“It seems that ‘A Call to Arms’ did exactly what its description suggested: It opened an avenue for our voices to be heard, as well as for the voices of those that can no longer speak out to be remembered.”

Thune said Thursday that he has been heartened by the support he has received.

“’ICE out’ isn’t a political message anymore,” he said. “It is a humanitarian call for help.”

He said he plans to contact the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Walker Art Center and the Minnesota History Center about the possibility of making a permanent “A Call to Arms.”

“I think it is time to make this sculpture live forever,” he said. “We’d like to recreate it in iron, the lifeblood of Minnesota, and have it on permanent display in Minneapolis as a memorial to those who can no longer speak up.”

‘Call to Arms’ sculpture description

From the World Snow Sculpting Championship website (worldsnowcelebration.com):

“In a world where division is growing, we all have an equal responsibility to do our part to stay united. A Call to Arms is a figurative expression urging people to take action, often in response to a crisis or conflict. It is a rallying cry to engage in a particular cause. It is going to take each and every one of us to keep our democracy healthy and viable for future generations. Everyone needs to lend a ‘hand’ to keep our society moving forward.”

Jared Kaufman contributed to this report.