Chef Mark Henry creates a teddy bear at last Saturday’s holiday festival in Ford City.
Chef Mark Henry from Latrobe created a teddy bear ice sculpture to go along with the theme “Christmas in Toyland” at Ford City’s Festival of Lights last Saturday night.
Henry was trained in Culinary Institute of America in New York but is also known for sculpting dinosaurs at the famous Jonas Studio. He owned a restaurant for several years, but now does mostly catering and ice sculptures.
“Every event, I look at the crowd and see what the theme is and do something to make people happy and that they enjoy,” Henry said as he sculpted a block of ice with everything from a chain saw, to a drill, to an ice pick and brush. “The ice is not like a piece of wood that has a grain and you have to follow it. With ice, you can add pieces, cut away, build, and make just about anything depending on how much time you have.”
Unfortunately by the end of the night, there was little to show for his hard work.
“It’s more about the event than the sculpture lasting forever. It’s art that melts into memories.”