A prickly porcupine, arched with quills at the ready to greet a prowling leopard took top honors in the 2012 BP World Ice Art Championships Multi Block Classic competition at the George Horner Ice Park.

The work, titled “Prickly Reception,” is the masterpiece of a four-member Japanese team led by Junichi Nakamara, a master ice artist who also placed first with a partner in the single block competition judged last week.

The Saturday night awards ceremony culminated the 132-hour competition, which ended Friday evening.

For six days, 19 teams of two to four sculptors, using chain saws, chisels, drills, hairdryers, irons and handmade tools, hewed fantastical, artistic forms and figures from 4-feet-by-6-feet-by-3-feet blocks of solid ice, some sculpting around the clock.

by Mary Beth Smetzer, Fairbanks Daily News Miner |  Read more:
Image: Sam Harrel