BY DARRELL R. SANTSCHI / STAFF WRITER
Published: Jan. 30, 2015 Updated: Feb. 1, 2015 8:16 p.m.
John Rodrigues teaches geometry at Hemet High School, going into the intricacies of lines and angles to his students on a daily basis.
It’s a discipline that he says comes in handy in his other life – as an ice sculptor.
“Geometry has everything to do with constructing and ice sculpting,” he said while a small stream of water ran out of the garage of his Claremont home and down his driveway.
His artwork melts away, sometimes quickly. And that, he says, is a big part of its charm.
“It’s something beautiful that is just there for a moment,” said the 45-year-old Orange County native, “so you have to appreciate it while it lasts. I think people value it more because it will be gone.”
It can take hours to fashion an ice sculpture, he said, and only a few hours for it to vanish in a puddle.
“I think that is the magic of it,” he said.
Rodrigues dropped out of high school when he began sculpting ice at age 16. He said he made a living at it – a pretty good living – for 16 years before returning to school and starting a career in education.
He has returned to ice sculpting in the past year and will test himself later this month against the 300 of the world’s best at the BP World Ice Art Championship in Fairbanks, Alaska.
There are prestigious competitions in Canada, Japan and Russia, Rodrigues said, but the annual competition in Fairbanks is the Super Bowl of ice sculpture. Last year’s event drew 48,000 spectators, with winners potentially earning a place in a chilly museum in town.
To compete, Rodrigues will have to graduate from carving 300-pound blocks of ice to mammoth 3 1/2-ton chunks of ice plucked by large forklifts from a man-made pond.
This for a sculptor who was introduced to the art from by accident.
As a dyslexic student at Fullerton High School, Rodrigues struggled to find something he was good at.
“On a whim I went to a (Regional Occupational Program) cooking class,” he said. “I liked it and I excelled at it.”
The instructor recommended him and two other students for two-week stints in the kitchen at the Conestoga Hotel, near Disneyland. He remembers walking in -- “I had never been in a hotel before,” he said -- and seeing the executive chef making an ice sculpture with a 300-pound block of ice and a chainsaw.
TO SCULPT ICE
While artistic talent may outweigh every other need, here are some things you need to take up ice sculpture:
Ice: Can be obtained from ice houses.
Freezer: Capable of holding 300-pound blocks of ice that are about 4 feet tall and 10 inches thick.
Space: Usually in a garage with a concrete floor that will not be damaged by water.
Chainsaws: Can be obtained at hardware stores. Most commonly used saws are 16 to 19 inches long.
Rotary grinder: It will need an assortment of bits.
Ice chisels: They come in a variety of shapes and can be purchased online.