Finland: Architect’s ephemeral lake art a winter tradition
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JAN M. OLSEN
Associated Press
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — An architect-designer in southern Finland has returned to a frozen lake with a snow shovel to draw a large animal on the ice for the sixth year in a row to create a short-lived artwork that he hopes will “make people happy and encourage them to go out to hike in a beautiful nature.”
On Dec. 4, Pasi Widgren drew a fox that measures about 90 meters (295.3 feet) from edge to edge on Lake Pitkajarvi, north of Helsinki. In previous years, he used a shovel to sketch a bear and an owl, always using the same lake as his canvas.
Widgren has drawn animals on local lakes every winter since 2016 near his home in a village not far from Lahti, a town of 120,000. The drawings disappear when more snow falls or when the ice melts.
The idea for the ephemeral art came “suddenly a couple of years ago when I realized I may have a special ability of coordination to do this kind of things myself,” the 40-year-old said in an email to The Associated Press.