Conceptual Art

Kevin Gregory takes ice sculpture to a new level. By Susan McDonnell Kevin Gregory spends almost every day at work in subfreezing temperatures, and that’s just the way he likes it. An award-winning, self-trained ice carver, Gregory is the owner and president of Ice Concepts in Hatfield, PA, a company that creates unique sculptures and ice creations for all types of events and budgets.

From centerpieces to ice bars, even carved-ice place settings such as dessert and salad bowls, Gregory and other carvers at Ice Concepts produce unique works of art for events up across the Mid-Atlantic and beyond.

And while Gregory says he is overjoyed with where his passion for sculpture has taken him, it’s not exactly the career he originally sought. As a teen, Gregory says, he actually dreamed of a career in the culinary arts. In fact, it was as he worked toward his goal of working in some of the finest hotels in the world that he discovered his love and talent for ice sculpture. In 1990, Gregory worked in a resort that produced ice sculptures on a daily basis.

“I got very interested in it, got together with the carver, and he taught me a little bit,” Gregory says. “Not too long after, he left the resort, and I kind of took on the role. I studied different publications and other people’s work in ice sculpture and continued to train myself in carving. I really got thrown into the fire there because I was expected to produce a 8 to 10 pieces a week. That was really how I got better very quickly.”

In 1993, Gregory moved to the Philadelphia area, acquiring a full-time culinary position at the Four Seasons. On the side, he started working as a freelance ice carver, working at an icehouse in Bensalem and delivering his pieces to people’s freezers. Within six months, he decided to make carving his full-time career. A year later, his wife left her job to run Ice Concepts’ sales and business office, and the company has been growing ever since.

Along with the expansion of his business, Gregory has also developed a reputation as one of the world’s top ice carvers. In 2009, he earned the title of National Ice Carving Association (NICA) National Champion. This year, he and Ice Concept’s lead carver, Tony Young, made their third appearance at the Winter Olympic Games in the Cultural Olympiad (at press time, their competition scores were unavailable). In the Salt Lake City events in 2002, Gregory and Young placed 3rd among the 20 nations represented. In all, Gregory estimates he’s participated in 70 or 80 events since he launched his career.

Ice carving is his passion, and while it is a fun and creative pursuit, it is not without its challenges. There are, of course, the expenses of making and storing ice. But along with that, the medium itself can be difficult to work with.

“Ice is really as strong as steel but as fragile as glass – the minute you introduce a tiny bit of impact it will shatter,” Gregory notes. “That alone makes us live on the edge every day we’re doing what we do. We’ve got our science figured out, but I have to say, if ice wasn’t so fragile it would be a lot easier to work with.”

And while his company manufactures some of the clearest, top-quality ice available, he says there’s nothing comparable to carving natural ice. In fact, the biggest project he ever took on, a 23-foot-high sculpture called Aqua Queen utilized ten 5,000-pound blocks of Alaska lake ice.

“I’m so used to carving the ice we manufacture here; when we go to Alaska it’s an entirely new world,” he says. “It’s an ice carver’s heaven, a beautiful blue hue to it. It’s the most exciting type of transformation you can imagine.”

Here in Pennsylvania, Gregory says while he’s not in quite the same place he imagined when he was a teenager, he couldn’t be happier doing anything else. “I’m living the dream, I couldn’t ask for anything more,” he says. “We integrate art and technology and create these unique pieces. I think people 10 years ago would think of ice sculpture as being only for the rich, but it’s really not that way anymore. We are a wedding or event service, just like any other, and we cater to a really diverse market.”

For more information on Ice Concepts, visit www.iceconceptsinc.com or call (610) 239-1299.

Susan McDonnell is a freelance writer and lives in Conshohocken, PA.