Snow sculptures come alive

　　大学生玩转雪雕艺术

　　导读：在刚刚结束的首届全国大学生雪雕比赛中，一支来自哈尔滨华德学院的四人队伍凭借高超技艺夺冠。在雕琢这些冰雪艺术的同时，学生们也塑造了自己的人生。

　　It is 20 degrees below zero and the wind is bitingly cold. But Wang Haiqiang, an 18-year-old environmental design major from Harbin Huade University, seems unaware of the harsh conditions as he steps back and cocks his head to one side. He studies the gigantic snow sculpture for a while and then goes back to polishing his work of art.

　　室外温度已经是零下20度了，寒风刺骨。尽管环境如此恶劣，来自哈尔滨华德学院环境艺术设计专业、18岁的王海强(音译)却如同没事的人一样。他后退几步，把头歪向一边。在对着这座大型雪雕审视了一番后，王海强又开始继续打磨这件艺术品了。

　　Wang is a devotee of snow sculptures. Similar to him, there are many other students in Heilongjiang province who take advantage of the cold weather and turn nature’s material into stunning pieces of art. Below they introduce you to this traditional art.

　　王海强是位不折不扣的“雪雕迷”。在黑龙江，像他这样的学生有很多，他们利用本土气候优势，将天然材料打造成令人惊叹不已的艺术品。下面，就让这些“雪雕迷”来介绍一下这门传统艺术吧!

　　Freezing art

　　“冻人”的艺术

　　For students from South China, zero degrees is already harsh enough, not to mention working outside when the temperature is 20 degrees below zero. But Wang Haiqiang feels quite comfortable in the cold weather. “My hometown is in the Greater Hinggan Mountains, where temperatures drop to 40 or even 50 degrees below zero,” he says.

　　对于来自南方的学生而言，零度已经够冷的了，更别说还要在零下20℃的户外活动。而王海强却觉得这个温度完全没压力。他说：“我老家在大兴安岭，那里温度低达零下40℃甚至零下50℃。”

　　He loves the freezing art because “snow sculpting is a form of art that is unlike any other,” he says. “Drawing is the art of ‘plus’ - adding layers to a paper. But snow sculpting is the art of ‘minus’ – we are given an snow cube and remove layers from it to turn it into a meaningful shape.”

　　他热爱这门“冻人”的艺术，因为“相对于其它艺术形式而言，雪雕如此与众不同”。王海强说：“作画是做‘加法’——在纸上层层润色。而雪雕则是门‘减法’艺术—给我们一个大雪块，通过一层层的雕琢成型，最终使其变成一件有内涵的艺术品。”

　　Lively art

　　生动的艺术

　　Tian Peng is Wang’s upperclassman. The 21-year-old has been snow sculpting for three years, ever since he first learned how to do it in an ice and snow sculpting class. “I was fascinated by the huge yet lively artworks,” he says.

　　21岁的田鹏(音译)是王海强的学长。自从第一次在冰雪雕塑课上学会这门技艺以来，他已经从事雪雕艺术三年时间了。“我被这些壮观而生动的艺术作品深深吸引住了。”

　　He can still remember vividly the first snow sculpture he made. “It was a sculpture depicting a warm family scene: a father coming home from work and his son and dog running toward him with big smiles on their faces,” he says.

　　他还清楚地记得自己的首个雪雕作品，他说道：“那个作品展现了一幅非常温馨的家庭画面——儿子满脸笑容，和小狗一同奔向刚刚下班回家的父亲。”

　　Although the sculpture was 3 meters tall, Tian says the overjoyed emotions almost made the sculpture come alive.

　　田鹏表示，尽管这座雪雕有3米高，但其中洋溢的喜悦之情让整个作品显得非常生动。

　　Practice in competitions

　　竞赛中的磨练

　　Wang Haitao, Tian Peng and two other students formed a team and participated in the first snow sculpting competition for college students in Heilongjiang province. Their work “Book of Life” won first place because of its deep meaning and strong visual effect. However, what most people don’t know is that they get most of their experience by joining competitions.

　　王海强、田鹏同另外两名学生组队参加了黑龙江省首届大学生雪雕大赛。他们的作品《生命之书》因其意义深刻、视觉感染力强而夺冠。但是大多数人并不知道，他们是通过参加一次次的竞赛来积累经验的。

　　“For each competition, our students spend three to four days on making an snow sculpture. During the process they not only practice their sculpting skills, but also learn from other contestants,” says Li Xinze, the team’s tutor and the associate dean of the art and communication department of Harbin Huade University.

　　这支参赛队伍的指导老师、哈尔滨华德学院艺术与传媒学院副院长李鑫泽表示：“每一次比赛，我们的学生都要花三到四天时间来雕刻作品。在这个过程中，学生不仅可以练习雕刻技巧，还可以向其他参赛选手学习。”

　　“Besides, it has changed our students’ tradition of maodong (northeastern dialect for staying inside in cold winters),” says Li. “Carrying on traditions while changing bad habits - what a meaningful form of art.”

　　李老师表示：“除此之外，雪雕也改变了学生们‘猫冬’(东北方言，意指窝在屋里过冬)的习惯。在传承传统的同时，又能改掉坏习惯—这是一门多么有意义的艺术啊!”