ICE TYPOGRAPHY

VIEW PIER, originally uploaded by mamzellenix.

I have always had a fascination with ice sculptures, so of course I love the idea of inserting words comprised of ice in an unexpected outdoor setting.

The above was a creation by environmental artist Nicole Dextras.  The letters were cast from a 6 foot high mold and installed on a Lake Ontario on the pier to Toronto Island.

Here is artist's statement on her Ice Typography installations:

"The visual poetry in this series aims to subvert the authority of the English language and the commerce of signage by representing words as vulnerable and shifting. Ice Typography absorbs light, melts and eventually leaves no trace; these words have more in common with dreams and oral stories than linear language. Words cast in ice interrupt our literal narratives, allowing a more integrated reading of the land we inhabit, as opposed to the past and current commodification of land as limitless resource. This fundamental split in perception lies at the crux of our environmental crisis. I therefore choose to create within an ephemeral vernacular to accentuate the collective physical and psychological experience of flux and change."

Here is a time-elapsed photography of the word "Consume" melting that was installed on the seawall in Stanley Park across from the Information center in Vancouver, BC.

Artist's website: Nicole Dextras
Flickr:  mamzellenix