Team USA snow sculpture in Stillwater removed over ‘ICE out’ messaging

Team USA’s sculpture for the World Snow Sculpting Championship in downtown Stillwater has been removed. Championship officials cited changes the sculptors made in response to recent federal immigrant enforcement.

The original design featured a sphere of outstretched hands. It was called “A Call to Arms.”

But Team USA, which includes St. Paul artist Dusty Thune and teammates Dan Belcher and Josh Jakubowski, decided during the making of the sculpture to add peace signs and hand gestures using American Sign Language. Among the messages spelled out in ASL: “ICE out,” “love,” “unity” and “resist.”

“Unfortunately, Team USA did not comply with the rules of the competition,” Robin Anthony-Evenson, president of the Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce & Foundation, said Wednesday, adding that event organizers had received “several phone calls and complaints” about the sculpture.

The World Snow Sculpting Championship rules state that “teams must adhere to their original submitted sketch” and “sculptures must respect cultural and social values, and avoid offensive, controversial, political, or inappropriate themes,” Anthony-Evenson said.

The hand gestures in the sculpture “did not align with these pre-established rules and policy,” she said.

‘Events have a hand’

Thune, a veteran snow sculptor and the team’s captain, said his team, ...