IceVisions was an artistic collaboration of students, teachers, staff, friends and other members of the Dawson community. IceVisions involved creating a large snow-ice sculpture to address the SPACE theme for 2015-16: Visions. The outdoor sculpture was on the grounds of the college, in the form of a human eye, looking toward the heavens.

The sculpture had two purposes: firstly to create a work of art in winter outside to express an interpretation of the 2015-16 SPACE theme; and secondly, to involve members of the Dawson community, in particular many students, and to engage the community in a collective effort on one theme/object, to have fun and to be reminded that art takes work, cooperation, persistence and imagination.

The weather was difficult because the sculpture melted to the ground twice while being built and we were obliged to rebuild it. Student enthusiasm was very high and they often expressed a genuine pleasure as they talked, shoveled, lifted blocks and learned how to think about building with snow and ice. The teacher and staff support was an essential element of the building and gave rise to a feeling amongst the workers of contributing to a large and compelling project. Much hard work, terrific sense of camaraderie, laughter and serious moods, as the first blocks were laid December 27, 2015 and the last on the evening of March 6, 2017.

The grand opening took place at 1:00 on Monday March 7th.

The first part of the wall fell at 2:33 on that same day. It fell with a sound – whoosh – and was gone, while I was talking to some of the students who had helped build it and who had just come out from walking through it. Sort of sad but very amusing. After a very warm week in March the sculpture was almost all gone.