Patricia Leguen working on “Wascana,” World Ice Art Championships, 1996.
Photo credit: a detail from a photograph by Patrick J. Endres
Alaska Photo Graphics
Patricia Leguen
Patricia’s work has a sensibility about it that struck us. When we saw her sculpture “Wascana” we were intrigued. It was a pile of around 50 large buffalo skulls carved out of ice; ice looking particularly blue in the Alaska sun. Later we learned that there was a story behind the choice of the subject. The piece itself, while realistic, also worked as an abstract. It did not need a literal translation to work. The buffalo horns and shapes of the skulls built a curious form, accented by the sweep and curve of horns. It was poetic as well as political. We first saw this Canadian artist’s work, on an Ice Alaska associated site. …more