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Gov­er­nors Island Arts Announces Final­ists for 2025 Ice Sculp­ture Show

Jan 16, 2025 9:58 am

Today, Gov­er­nors Island Arts announced final­ists set to com­pete in the fourth annu­al Gov­er­nors Island Ice Sculp­ture Show, set to take place on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 8, 2025, from 12 to 3p.m. This unique annu­al event pro­vides New York­ers and vis­i­tors from around the world with the sin­gu­lar oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence live ice carv­ing along­side the open space, and cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, and his­toric resources and attrac­tions that Gov­er­nors Island offers year-round. 

“We are so excit­ed for these artists to carve their cre­ations to life, and for Island vis­i­tors to wit­ness this event in Colonels Row for the fourth year in a row,” said Lau­ren Haynes, Head Cura­tor, Gov­er­nors Island Arts and Vice Pres­i­dent at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“With our col­lec­tion of pub­lic art­works and per­for­mances and pro­gram­ming, the Island is one of New York’s most inter­est­ing des­ti­na­tions for arts and cul­tur­al expe­ri­ence in all seasons.”

2025 Ice Sculp­ture Show Finalists:

• Ana Añu (@soopspoon) – ​“Bear Wit­ness,” Añu’s ecopo­et­ic sculp­ture that reflects the impor­tance of ani­mism in cli­mate sto­ry­telling, will call for audi­ence mem­bers to wit­ness the qui­et voic­es of the elemental. 

• Eli­jah Chavez (@lijahchavez.art) – ​“Lo que pasará, pasará” will depict an anatom­i­cal human heart while serv­ing as a com­mu­ni­ty alter inspired by the Mex­i­can cus­toms of the Day of the Dead. 

• Jake DeMar­ti­ni (@the­jakeweight) – A nod to 19^th-cen­tu­ry mar­itime his­to­ry, DeMartini’s ​“Moor­ing Bol­lard” hon­ors the tit­u­lar object’s min­i­mal design and engi­neer­ing along­side Gov­er­nors Island’s nau­ti­cal history. 

• Shawn Hill (@ublincd) – Select­ed in hon­or of Hill’s child­hood cre­ativ­i­ty, ​“Tuft­ed Tit­mouse” will depict this species of bird that is com­mon­ly seen on Gov­er­nors Island. 

• Aharon Levy – Levy’s ​“Gov­er­nors Island: New York Oasis” will explore the ten­sion between nature and urban envi­ron­ments, depict­ing a tree encased in ice and offer­ing a reflec­tion on imper­ma­nence, cli­mate change, and nature’s resilience. 

• Agusti­na Markez (@agusti­na­markezs­tu­dio) – Markez will explore the star as a sym­bol both in the con­text of nature and pop cul­ture through ​“Inter­twined Stars,” which inves­ti­gates iden­ti­ty and dis­place­ment in rela­tion to Amer­i­can culture. 

• Josef Pin­lac (@istill­heart­newyork) – Pin­lac will cel­e­brate pol­li­na­tors in ​“Ice ice bay-bee,” incor­po­rat­ing hon­ey­comb designs and hon­or­ing the Island’s bee population. 

• Sonya Sobies­ki (@crookedsquare) –Sobieski’s ​“Look­ing Out” will depict an over­sized pair of binoc­u­lars with birds com­mon­ly seen on Gov­er­nors Island etched into the lens­es, ask­ing the view­er, ​“can we look out for nature?”. 

• Kate­ri­na Sokolovskaya (@katerina.sokolovskaya.art) – In ​“Nature+,” Sokolovskaya will explore how peo­ple coex­ist with their sur­round­ings, show­ing how bod­ies influ­ence one anoth­er and inter­act with the environment. 

• Mai Sone (@mai__sone) – In hon­or of the Island’s acorn-like shape, Sone will sculpt ​“A squir­rel eat­ing Gov­er­nors Island.”

The ten final­ists were cho­sen fol­low­ing an open call seek­ing designs inspired by the theme ​“Gov­er­nors Island + nature.” Final­ists will be paired with a pro­fes­sion­al ice carv­er from Okamo­to Stu­dio dur­ing the free pub­lic event on Gov­er­nors Island on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 8, 2025. Vis­i­tors are invit­ed to wit­ness this real-time ice carv­ing from 12 to 2 p.m. and enjoy an awards cer­e­mo­ny and ice sculp­ture instal­la­tion from 2 to 3p.m. — includ­ing the audi­ence-vot­ed ​“People’s Choice” award. The event will include ice carv­ing work­shops from Okamo­to Stu­dio, crafts from Red Hook Art Project, live music from dis­co-infused Afro­fu­tur­ist funk duo The Illus­tri­ous Blacks, and a spe­cial per­for­mance by NYC-based all-women, trans, and non-bina­ry drum­line Fogo Azul. Mak­i­na Café will be open in Colonels Row along­side addi­tion­al food trucks Nao Caribbean Fla­vors, The Orig­i­nal Soup­man, and Deploy Cof­fee, curat­ed by Four Wheel Feasts.

Dur­ing the win­ter months, Gov­er­nors Island is open to the pub­lic dai­ly from 7a.m. to 6p.m. Trust for Gov­er­nors Island-oper­at­ed fer­ries run dai­ly between the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing at 10 South Street in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sois­sons Land­ing on the Island. Round-trip fer­ry tick­ets cost $5 for adults. Gov­er­nors Island fer­ries are always free for chil­dren 12 and under, old­er adults ages 65 and up, res­i­dents of NYCHA, IDNYC hold­ers, cur­rent and for­mer mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers, and Gov­er­nors Island mem­bers. Fer­ries before 11a.m. on Sat­ur­days and Sun­days are free for all. There is no sur­charge for bicy­cles or strollers at any time. For sched­ules and tick­ets, vis­it www​.gov​is​land​.org/​ferry.

NYC Fer­ry, the city’s pub­lic fer­ry ser­vice, also serves Gov­er­nors Island dai­ly on the South Brook­lyn Route dur­ing the win­ter months, with stops in Low­er Man­hat­tan and along the Brook­lyn water­front. Sched­ules and more infor­ma­tion avail­able on their web­site at www.ferry.nyc.

Gov­er­nors Island’s award-win­ning park is open to the pub­lic every day, along with recre­ation activ­i­ties like bike rentals, Ham­mock Grove, The Hills, Pic­nic Point, and more. Gov­er­nors Island Arts pub­lic art works, includ­ing pieces by Duke Riley, Sam Van Aken, Rachel Whiteread, Mark Dion, Sheila Berg­er, Shantell Mar­tin, and Mark Hand­forth are also cur­rent­ly on view through­out the Island. This win­ter also marks the return of Win­ter Dog Days, where dogs are allowed on Gov­er­nors Island dai­ly from Decem­ber to April. Dogs must be leashed while on Gov­er­nors Island except for in the Win­ter Dog Park, locat­ed in Colonels Row and open through March.