Kyuubi Culture + Don Greer : Enchanted Ice Garden

Nutrien Wintershines • Saskatoon • January 2020

Event Introduction

In Market Square, walk through the Enchanted Ice Garden (琉璃仙苑) designed by local architect Don Greer collaborating with Kyuubi Culture Artist Collective with lighting effects by Production Lighting. In the Banks Courtyard, take a photo in front of the gargoyles and perch on an Emperor’s Ice Throne.

The Enchanted Ice Garden will be a walk through tranquil Chinese style garden with 3 ponds and clear ice sculptures in each pond designed and constructed by Fire and Ice Creations. A Chinese themed gazebo (Known as a “Ting”) will meander through the centre of the garden with captivating views of the ice sculptures and ponds and an ice wall featuring an ice sculpture relief of flora and fauna.

Curatorial Concept

Enchanted Ice Garden is an ambitious collaboration project between Saskatoon-based architect Don Greer and Kyuubi Culture Artist Collective, which would be installed at Saskatoon’s  2020 Nutrien WinterShines Festival in a grand celebration of Chinese New Year.

The main design inspiration behind Enchanted Ice Garden comes from classical Chinese gardens of Suzhou during the mid-Ming Dynasty, in conjunction with several other visual elements influenced by imperial architectures of the late-Tang Dynasty around southern China. One of the critical aspects of Suzhou Garden is the ingenious usage of its environment. Every decorative element is the designed in parallel to the nearby vegetations, a balanced combination of organic and geometric shapes are incorporated in the composition to frame the surrounding sceneries, which allows the seamless coalescing between artificial structures and natural elements.

Utilizing Enchanted Ice Garden, Kyuubi Culture seeks to represent the epitome of classical Chinese architectural brilliance by integrating this emblematic aesthetic into the project design, and have it fully brought into life through the dexterous hands of Don Greer. This collaboration between Canadian and Chinese artists is a spectacular display of Saskatoon’s multicultural art scene. It demonstrates that the power of visual arts, in this particular case, public art events can reach beyond cultural boundaries and unite everyone in jubilation.