Snow sculpture posthumously honours Festival du Voyageur artist - Action News
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ManitobaCreator Network

Snow sculpture posthumously honours Festival du Voyageur artist

When snow sculptor Gary Ross died in December last year, his three adult children decided his art would not die with him. They took up his tools hand saws, ice chippers, chisels and created a memorial for him in snow at Festival du Voyageur.

Gary Ross's children carve snow monument to celebrate their late father

Siblings carve snow sculpture for late father

2 years ago
Duration 2:23
Longtime Festival du Voyageur artist Gary Ross celebrated in new snow sculpture The Big Catch.

When snow sculptor Gary Ross died in December last year, his three adult children decided his art would not die with him. They took up his tools hand saws, ice chippers, chisels and created a memorial for him in snow.

The Big Catch is a celebration of their late father, who began snow sculpting in 1978 and had been a longtime fixture at Festival du Voyageur.The sculpture is on the festival grounds at Fort Gibraltar.

"My dad loved sculpting and he loved fishing ...so we thought we would build a tribute to him holding a fish," said son Keith.

A man looks ahead, standing in front of an ice sculpture.
Gary's son, Keith, said it meant a lot for his family to honour their father through the sculpture. (CBC)

Keith and his two sisters, along with other friends and family, created the giant snow bust of their father over the course of a week, and finished Friday nightin time for opening day of the annual festival.

"It means a lot to be able to honour him and have people see the sculpture and be able to do this with my sisters and spend time with my family," Keith said. "And taking the time together would mean so much to my dad."

"It's full of heart and warmth and Gary would have absolutely loved it," saidChristel Lanthier, snow sculpture co-ordinator for the festival.

"[Gary]was a good, really cheerful guy to have around," Lanthier said.

A vintage photo of a man hold a catfish up to the camera is shown.
Gary Ross's children kept their father's love of fishing in mind as they designed the sculpture. (CBC)

The snow-carved memorial is being celebrated in a new, short video by Sisler Create filmmaking students Gino Villaceran, Erin Tierney, and Shaina Maralit.

CBC Creator Network and Sisler Create,which offers multimedia training and experience, have been collaborating on a storytelling project since September 2022.


Meet the filmmakers

A young person with curly hair smiles at the camera in a black-and-white photo.
Erin Tierney loves editing and working behind the camera. They went to Sturgeon Heights Collegiate and took media production, graduating in 2020. They spent two years at the University of Winnipeg majoring in theatre and film before joining the Create program. If they are not editing, you can find them playing Dungeons and Dragons with their friends. (Submitted by Carmen Acuna)
A young man with glasses, in a buttoned-up shirt and vest, smiles at the camera.
Gino Villaceran graduated from Argyle high school in 2022 and specializes in editing and setting the pace of a story. He loves writing scripts, being behind the camera, acting and editing clips. (Carmen Acuna)
A young woman holding a camera in her right hand poses and smiles at the camera.
Shaina Maralit graduated from Sisler High School in 2022. She loves filmmaking and editing. If you don't see her holding a camera, she is probably busy dancing in her room. (Carmen Acuna)

More about Project POV: Sisler Create

black and white logo for project POV by CBC
(CBC)

CBC Manitoba's Project POV: SislerCreate is a new storytelling collaboration that partners filmmaking students with CBC journalists to produce short videos.

During fall 2022, CBC journalists led storytelling and producing workshops over several weeks with filmmaking students at theCreate program at Sisler High School.

The program focuses on education and career pathways into the creative industries. Students can take courses in animation, film, game design, visual effects, graphic design and interactive digital media.