(chain clanking) - In order to become an ice sculptor, you need to have not only the artistic skills, the endurance to get the sculpture done, but the discipline.

(saw buzzing) (upbeat music) You're in a freezer for many hours a day or in a winter festival.

It's a very challenging material, and there's a lot of logistical things that go along with ice sculpting, like the drainage of the water in an event, in a room temperature event.

(water splashing) So it's very hard, but it's very rewarding.

You do ask yourself continuously, "Why, why am I doing this?

It's gonna melt."

(water dripping) But the beautiful thing about ice sculptures, is that it teaches us that beauty is not permanent.

Teaches you to enjoy what you have in front of you and make the most out of it.

(upbeat music) (gentle music) (upbeat music) (water splashing) One of the secrets of in a crystal clear block of ice, two of the secrets, one, is we purify the water.

We have a reverse osmosis system, a water softener, and an industrial filter.

So this is better than Evian water.

It's super clean water.

And then the other secret is the motion.

These pumps make the molecules of water to freeze really, really, really tight together.

That's why the ice is so crystal clear and so dense, so strong.

(chain clanking) It's motion is the biggest secret.

There was no ice sculpting in school in Venezuela, that's usually taught in culinary school.

So the only way for me to learn was to try to learn from somebody.

So I was begging for like three months to a chef in Caracas, in Venezuela.

And so, he took me in, he taught me some basic principles of ice sculpting.

(ice sculpting machine whirling) And then I started going to competitions all over the states and Canada and Europe.

My purpose in those, in that time, was just to learn as much as possible.

So I had to balance between doing my sculptures, trying to do well in the competition, at the same time, trying to learn as much as I can and trying to learn of their techniques and tools.

(saw buzzing) In those days, we didn't have chainsaws or chainsaws were not applied to ice sculpting yet.

So it was, you know, like a hand saw and ice picks and chisels.

To be able to carve a sculpture with only a hand saw, oh, I have so many stitches all over the place.

And then it's also a physical job.

(dolly clacking) These are 300 pound blocks of ice.

And at that point, it felt like, "This is one of the most difficult things in the world.

Why am I doing this?"

(Max laughs) What was the most difficult thing at the time, which was learning how to carve with only hand saws and chisels.

Now, I have the technology.

I have massive CNC machines and every tool that I can get.

(CNC machine buzzing) But having the skills of starting really, really, really hard and having the skills to create a sculpture with only a hand saw or a chisel, when somebody wants to start it over, I'm like, start, you know, with the basic tools and just create your skills based on very limited amount of tools.

And then eventually, you'll develop and you can add more tools into it, but you have a really good foundation for your technique.

(saw buzzing) (upbeat music) 26 years ago, I had an offer to work in Paris, or I had the option of buying a company in Chicago.

That deal didn't go through, so I decided, "Okay, I'm gonna open my own company, but I'm gonna move a little bit north."

I mean, it's Milwaukee, Madison, Lake Geneva, all the way up to Green Bay.

(upbeat music) And at this moment, I'm inspired by people, by the effect my ice sculptures create on people.

I am grateful that I come in people's lives, in very special times in their life, in their wedding or their anniversary or a birthday or a Bar Mitzvah.

I think there's a lot of things that we do that translate into, "You can do whatever you want."

(ice block cracking) If we can create this ice sculpture out of a block of ice, you can go home and do whatever you want.

You can create your own masterpieces into any material that you want, and you can overcome any challenge.

(torch lighting) If you can amaze and inspire people, that's the best thing you can do.

(torch hissing) One other beautiful thing about ice sculpting is that it allow me, like, I had some ideas and I'm like, "How can I get this out of my head?

How can I get this into a material?"

And so at the end of the day, you feel like, "Ah, it feels, it feels good to be able to translate something into a block of ice."

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Thanks for watching, "The Arts Page."

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