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Vail ice sculpture wins award

Vail Daily staff report
Vail, CO Colorado

VAIL, Colorado – The “Verdant Meadows” outdoor ice sculpture exhibit that was created along Gore Creek during the winter of 2008 named among America’s best public art projects by Americans for the Arts.

Sponsored by the town of Vail Art in Public Places, the sculptures were a collaboration between Denver artist Lawrence Argent and ice sculptor Scott Rella.

Vail is one of only 45 award recipients from among 32 cities in 15 states and the only recipient in Colorado to be honored by Americans for the Arts this year. There were more than 300 entries from across the country.



“Verdant Meadows was a truly exciting public art project,” said Leslie Fordham, who served as Vail’s public art coordinator until recently. “People applauded when it lit up at night and expressed sadness when it melted in the springtime.”

Verdant Meadows, which represented a larger-than-life alpine meadow, included 17 ice sculptures, some 8 to 12 feet high. They were illuminated with LED’s for nighttime appeal. Due to the exhibit’s popularity, and thanks to the generosity of Triumph Development and other sponsors, a second Triumph Winterfest ice sculpture exhibit was displayed last winter called “Conduit,” which has been featured in the June issue of Sculpture magazine.

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This is the second year Vail has been recognized by the Americans for the Arts. In 2008 the art in public places program was honored for Patrick Marold’s Windmill Project, which featured 2,700 hand-made light generating windmills which were installed during the spring of 2007. The exhibit makes its way to Burlington, Vt., beginning in August.

Vail’s recognition comes while the town is launching its most ambitious summer program to date, which includes the initiation of a sculpture loan program with the Denver Art Museum, three art exhibitions, the recent dedication of artwork on Meadow Drive, an outdoor painting contest, bronze sculpture workshops, demonstrations and guided tours of the art collection. Most of the public art activities are free and open to the public. For details, visit http://www.artinvail.com.


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