Arts Design

THE ART OF BEAUTIFUL FREEZE

From the random art of frozen waterfalls and lighthouses, to the ordered patterns of snow drawings, to the captured ephemera of frozen bubbles, to the melting messages of ice typography, to ghostly frozen dresses, here is the most beautiful frozen art happening right now.

Photo: Angela Kelly. Frozen Bubbles.

Washington-based photographer Angela Kelly, creates incredible images with frozen bubbles. She begins by forming soap bubbles, out of dish soap, Karo syrup, and water, and, together with her young son, blowing them into freezing cold air. The bubbles turn into fragile glass-like orbs at around nine to 16 degrees Fahrenheit. Then Kelly photographs them, capturing their ephemeral glory.

Photo: Make. The ice orchestra.

We found heartwarming beauty in the recycled orchestra. And now we find breathtaking beauty in an orchestra that is meant to melt in the spring. The ice orchestra, created by sculptor Tim Linhart, plays a series of concerts throughout the winter in the remote Swedish town of Luleå, just beneath the Arctic Circle.

Photo: Courtesy of Ice Music. The ice orchestra.

These instruments are made, almost entirely, of chiseled ice. They are stunningly beautiful to see, as colored lights pour through them, shifting, highlighting their shapes so that you can better understand and appreciate their sound.

Their sound is completely different -- sharp, ethereal, with a wide tonal range. They are stiff, picking up every vibration. Most are string instruments, like a violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar, and banjo. The strings are real, but the bodies are all perfectly shaped frozen water.

The ensemble also includes ice xylophone and spherical "bubble drums." It all sounds like a dream inside the igloo auditoriums.

Photo: Courtesy Ice Music. The ice orchestra.

The instruments are suspended by strings from the ceiling so the musicians don’t have to touch them and transfer body heat. Even so, as players breathe, they change the instruments so much that they must each be re-tuned slightly between each song.

Originally from New Mexico, Linhart was invited to this town of 80,000 residents in Swedish Lapland 10 years ago to take part in the building of one of the world's first ice hotels.

Different types of ice offer different qualities as Linhart shapes his works. White ice, a pearl-colored blend of water and snow, is especially flexible when frozen, for example.

Photo: Courtesy of Ice Music. The ice orchestra.

Clear ice, which the artist defines as, "Pure frozen water with no flaws, just molecule against molecule all the way through." Clear ice has to come from unadulterated, clean, bubble-free water -- not so easy to find. But it is, in many ways, the most desired, because of its visual beauty and its crystal clear sound.

Photo: Tom Gill. Ice draped over St. Joseph North Pier Lighthouse.

Tom Gill doesn’t pose or arrange his frozen subjects, winter does. The beautiful lighthouses on Lake Michigan, which impassioned Gill in warmer seasons, became incredibly transformed, as high waves splashed freezing water, wind whipped and changed direction, and temperature plummeted.

Photo: Courtesy of Michigan Travel Bureau. Frozen lighthouse in Cleveland.

Gill captures these stunning winter sculptures in a beautiful series of photographs.

“The best ice formations occur when the air temperatures are below freezing, and the lake is still liquid,” Gill explained in an interview with Weather.com. “The areas around the lighthouse and surfaces of the piers are most often covered in a thick layer of ice, while the waves continue to splash against the pier. One slip on the ice and I could fall into the 35-degree water with diminishing hope of getting out if the pier is covered in ice.”

Photo: Tom Gill. Ice draped over St. Joseph North Pier Lighthouse.

Gill stalks perfect conditions -- and they are rare. But his waits pay off with an occasional day after a winter storm, with blue skies and the temperature at 30 degrees.

To view more of Tom Gill’s work visit his Flickr page and blog.

Photo: Courtesy of Nicole Dextras. Ice Typography.

Canadian artist Nicole Dextras has created two, very different series of ice sculpture installations -- each monumental in its own right.

Photo: Courtesy of Nicole Dextras. Ice Typography.

The first, Ice Typography, incorporates words, made of letters, made of ice, set against a range of backdrops. Together, they visually and verbally tell a story as time and weather carries on.

Photo: Courtesy of Nicole Dextras. Ice Shifts.

The second series, IceShifts, is a series of photographs consisting of deconstructed garments frozen into blocks of ice, which are then photographed.

Photo: Courtesy of Nicole Dextras. Ice Shifts.

As light shines through, shirts and pants become skeletal forms -- dresses become ghosts’ gowns. Lace, gauze, and weave textures layer. They stand against

Photo: Courtesy of Nicole Dextras. Ice Shifts.