A snow turtle has settled into a Minnesota front yard, and it is considerably bigger than the people standing beside it. This is the cheerful world of Austin, Connor and Trevor Bartz: brothers who turned winter snow into a growing collection of oversized animals.
A turtle with some memorable predecessors
The turtle belongs to the brothers’ 2015 project in New Brighton. The accompanying archive also looks back at a pufferfish, a shark and a walrus. Seen together, the photographs show an evolving interest in animals with strong, readable silhouettes.
The shark has its unmistakable open mouth. The walrus gets much of its character from the face and tusks. These details work even in a small photograph, while the people beside the sculptures reveal how much larger the finished pieces are than an ordinary snowman.
Small details make a big creature
Look beyond the overall size and notice the changes in surface: smooth rounded areas, carved edges and darker recesses. Snow gives the brothers a limited colour palette, so shape and shadow do much of the storytelling. Evening light adds another layer by separating the pale sculpture from its surroundings.
The original interview describes a family project developed over successive winters. These are archive photographs, rather than an announcement of a current display. Their appeal needs no attendance record or inflated construction statistic: a familiar yard becomes a place with an enormous, unlikely resident.
For another playful scene made from snow, see Brendan Schaffer’s sculpted campfire. For a different material and a more architectural shape, explore Wisconsin’s Icehenge photographs.
A sea-life theme that grew with the brothers
Austin, Connor and Trevor Bartz’s New Brighton project began, according to Austin’s interview, with a pufferfish encountered in Florida. Recreating it in snow established the sea-life theme that later produced the large turtle featured here. That origin gives the succession of sculptures a personal connection rather than making them a random series of oversized snowmen.
The account described the turtle as twelve feet tall and the work as roughly three hundred hours. Austin also talked about learning finer techniques and fitting the tradition around college. Those details explain both the ambition and the practical limits of the project at the time. The gallery records the brothers growing alongside their work, so earlier sculptures belong in the sequence even when the turtle is the headline subject.
Sources, photography and further reading
Original feature and image attributions:
- Bored Panda
- What These 3 Brothers Made In Their Yard Is Simply Unbelievable. Seriously, WOW.
- They Carved An Entire City Out Of Ice…And It’s Beyond Awesome.
- This Festival Is Absolutely Must For Your Lifetime!
- Amazing Ice Sculptures That Put Edward Scissorhands To Shame.
- 10 Literally Cool Things Made From Ice And Snow
- This Guy’s Crazy Idea Started To Make His Wife Nervous. But It Was All Worth It, Trust Me.
- Bartz brothers snow-sculpture archive
- Brendan Schaffer’s sculpted campfire
- Icehenge photographs
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