Albertans finish strong at international ice carving competition in China
Prize-winning ice sculpture included an oil derrick and maple leaf
Edmonton and Calgary were well represented this week at an international ice carving competition in Harbin, China.
Ice carving artists Steve Buzak from Edmonton and Scott Harrison from Calgary put aside the battle of Alberta and teamed up to place third out of 34 teams from around the world.
The competition involves turning a huge block of ice into a work of art.
Buzak is the executive chef at the Royal Glenora Club in Edmonton. He got into ice carving while taking culinary arts training at NAIT.
His partner, Harrison, is a culinary arts teacher in Calgary.
In an interview with CBC's Radio Active on Wednesday, Buzak talked about the inspiration for their sculpture.
"We have to have something from Canada, obviously, so we titled our piece heritage," he said.
"We had a huge maple leaf. We hollowed the centre so there's some negative space and we put a rustic oil derrick in the centre."
Buzak said he was happy with their result at the competition.
"We're honoured to make the podium," he said. "We're really happy with our piece."
This isn't the first time Buzak has participated in the international competition. In 2017, he and a partner from B.C placed second with a honey bee sculpture.
