Sculptor Looking Forward To Knickerbocker Festival

John Hedbavny likes his ice silent.

In fact, it’s one the reasons that for the past eight years, he’s been a professional ice sculptor after graduating from the Culinary Institute of Americas and working a chef in the food service industry before that.

“Working in kitchens, there are a lot of people that talk back to you or are rude to you,” he said. “Ice doesn’t talk back. It’s a whole different world of stress.”

Of course, that’s not the only reason Hedbavny has kept up sculpting, though. He also said he likes it because “it’s an art and medium that’s here one day and gone the next.”

Hedbavny, of Highland, N.Y., has sculpted ice for more than 10 years on and off. He said he first became interested in it after watching colleagues do it while he was working as a chef. He said he watched them make swans, dolphins and other items and picked it up as he saw more of it.

“I think if you watch enough of someone doing something, you’ll eventually pick it up at least a little,” said Hedbavny.

This Saturday and Sunday, Hedbavny will take part in the sixth annual as one of three sculptors in an ice sculpting competition. He’s competed the past three festivals.

Hedbavny runs the Woodstock Ice Company in Highland and said he does a wide range of pieces, including various animals, luges and even entire bars.

In one of the past Knickerbocker festivals he competed in, Hedbavny said he sculpted a group of eight geese, each with independent wings. He made the piece using eight blocks of ice and did it over the course of 56 hours.

He added that competitors don’t usually say what they’re planning on sculpting before the competition, so he didn’t want to give it away.

Hedbavny said he has continued to compete in the festival partly because it’s a good way to get his company’s name out there.

“People come from all over to the festival, and it’s a good thing to be and to show people what I can do,” he said. “But it’s also just a good time. I’m looking forward to it again.”