Arts ©Entertainment
Wednesday, October 19,1994 Page 9
Sculptor makes ice art, and then it melts
By Paula Lavlgw_
Senior Reporter
Kathy Mayfield wields her whir
ring chain saw and plunges it into
a solid block of glimmering ice.
She wiggles it around as ice shards
spit into the air.
No, Mayfield is not building an
igloo; she’s working on a sculp
ture.
While most sculptors use clay,
wood or plaster, Mayfield uses her
Sears Craftsman 275 and a 4-foot
high chunk of ice.
As she alternates sawing with
chiseling, the block of ice trans
forms into a flamingo.
Mayfield creates her sculptures
at Valley Ice Co. at 601 J St. Origi
Photos by
Jeff Hallor/DN
Left: Kathy Mayflald chips
away at the neck and head
of a flamingo Ice sculpture
at Valley Ice Co. at 601J
St. Below: Mayfield makes
Ice fly with her chain saw
■ when she creates Ice
sculptures. Eventually, they
melt.
nally from New Jersey, Mayfield
has been sculpting ice for more
than 18 years. It’s a side project
from her full-time job as a stand-up
comedian.
Ice sculptures are more popular
in large cities such as New York
and Los Angeles than they are in
Nebraska, she said.
“Nebraskans are kind of practi
cal,” she said. “If you can’t eat it,
they don’t want it. They say, ‘What
do you mean, spend $125 on a
puddle of water?'”
Since the demand is higher in
large cities, she said she could
charge more than $400 per sculp
ture. In Lincoln, she charges about
$130 for an average sculpture.
Mayfield’s interest in ice sculp
tures began when she and her first
husband were in the catering busi
ness. She said people would ask
about getting ice sculptures for their
events.
Without any trainingor instruc
tion, Mayfield decided to make her
own.
“I just started trying and screw
ing up, and I just kept doing it until
I got it down,” she said.
Restaurants, weddings, gradu
ations and bar mitzvahs often use
ice sculptures, she said. The most
popular designs requested are two
doves on top of a heart and a fla
mingo, for weddings.
“Ice sculptures at weddings give
people the illusion you spent more
money,” she said. “It's just more
elegant.”
The most unusual design, she
said, was an obscene sculpture for
a local man’s party.
“Let ’ s just say women don ’ t have
one.” she said, laughing.
Mayfield said she always was
an artistic child, so she could cre
ate designs with ease. She said she
could create any design people re
quested by making minor alterna
tions.
She has created an 8-tool-tall
Statue of Liberty and a 12-foot
long dragon, and she made an en
tire Christmas scene for the Sheldon
Memorial Art Gallery at the Uni
versity of Ncbraska-Lincoln.
For an average sculpture.
Mayfield starts out with a 300
pound block of ice. She scratches
in the design with a chisel and she
cuts it out with the chain saw. She
makes the final touch-ups with
Mayfield starts out with a 300
pound block of ice. She scratches
See ICE on 10
ABBA members
making new show
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP)—Two
members of ABBA arc ready to take a
chance on the theater again.
Benny Andcrsson and Bjorn Ulvacus
arc looking for actors to star in “Kristina
from Duvcmala," a musical based on the
epic book “The Emigrants" by Swedish
author Wilhelm Mobcrg. It is expected
to open in Sweden next year, Swedish
mcaia said Tuesday.
Andersson and Ulvacus and their
wives, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agncta
Falthskog, formed ABBA in 1971. The
pop group's hits included “Waterloo,"
"Dancing Queen” and “Take a Chance
on Me.”
The marriages, then the group, broke
upin the 1980s, and Andcrsson and
Ulvaeus produced the Broadway musi
cal “Chess.” Its music won praise, but
the story, about the Cold War through
the eyes of U.S. and Soviet chess play
ers, got poor reviews.
Low ticket sales cancel ballet show
Official points to
Omaha productions
and other shows
By Paula Lavlgiw _
Senior Reporter
Ballet Omaha canceled its Lied Center
performance of “Anne Frank.” originally
scheduled for Friday, because of extremely
low ticket sales, a ballet official said.
Kathryn Rouch, director of marketing for
Ballet Omaha, said the company' s Oct. 7 and
8 Omaha performances drew 3,200 people.
“They were not as good as we had hoped,
yet not horrible,” she said.
Rouch said the Joffrcy Ballet’s perfor
mances on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 and 2 at the
Lied Center may have pulled people away
from Ballet Omaha's audience.
Ballet has a difficult time competing for
the entertainment dollar. Rouch said. She
said ballet in Nebraska had a small yet
devoted audience.
“Our goal is to get more people to experi
ence and develop an appreciation for the art
form,” she said.
Rouch said Ballet Omaha tried to in
crease interest by expanding its education
outreach program and offering student tick
ets at a discount.
Marketing Ballet Omaha productions in
Lincoln meets another challenge.
“I think there's one school of thought that
there is competition between Lincoln and
Omaha communities,” she said. “I'd like to
think the greater part of the community
doesn't feel that way and would like to have
their state ballet company performing in
their area.”
The Lied Center provides a valuable venue
for Ballet Omaha. Rouch said. She said the
Lied Center offered Ballet Omaha the chance
to fulfill its outreach mission in Lincoln.
Print, television, radio and direct mail
advertisements for “Anne Frank” were dis
tributed in the Lincoln area, Rouch said, but
limited funding constrained the company's
marketing efforts.
Norah George, director of marketing for
the Lied Center, said when the Lied offered
ballet performances, it drew large crowds.
George commended Ballet Omaha's mar
keting strategies in Omaha and surrounding
areas, but she said she thought people were
traveling to Omaha to see the performance
instead of waiting until it came to Lincoln.
Ballet Omaha staged “Dracula” at the
Lied Center last October. The company will
bring “Romeo and Juliet” to Lincoln on Feb.
25.
