Tag Archives: Greg Butauski

Company, Pumpkin Carving

Best of October Pumpkin Carving

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October was crazy busy for Rock On Ice with pumpkin carving and pumpkin carving demonstrations.

Rock On Ice traveled all across Ohio and even outside Ohio to bring pumpkins to life! We carved pumpkins as small as 20 lbs. to over
1,000 lbs. In all, we carved over 400 pumpkins in October.
We carved pumpkins for Fall Festivals, Zoo’s, Corporate Events,
and Trick-or-Treat events.

Here are some of our favorite pumpkin pics from this Fall…enjoy!

Pumpkin-Carving-Haunted-House-Display-with-Greg-Butauski

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Haunted House” carved by Greg Butauski.
5 pumpkin masterpiece display.

 

Pumpkin-Carving-Da-Bomb-Squad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Da Bomb Squad” carved by Titus Arensberg.
3 pumpkin demonstration display.

 

Pumpkin-Carving-Demonstration-in-Michigan

 

 

 

 

 

11 pumpkin demonstration display carved by
Rock On Ice crew and led by Trent Mason.

 

Pumpkin-Carving-of-Vulture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Vulture” carved by Jon Michaels.
3 pumpkin masterpiece display.

 

Pumpkin-Carving-Large-Display-of-Dinosaurs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“T-Rex” carved by Greg Butauski,
Titus Arensberg, and Dean Murray.
15 pumpkin masterpiece display.

 

Pumpkin-Carving-of-Windmill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Windmill” carved by Titus Arensberg.
5 pumpkin masterpiece display. This was a
working windmill.

 

Pumpkin-Carving-Large-Display-2015-Spooktacular

 

 

 

 

“Spooktacular” carved by Dean Murray, Greg Butauski,
and Titus Arensberg.
32 pumpkin masterpiece display.

 

Warrior Pumpkin Carving

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Viking Warrior” carved by Jon Michaels
surrounded by the Rock On Ice crew.
800 – 1,000 lb. giant pumpkin.

 

Humpty Dumpty Pumpkin Carving

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Humpty Dumpty” carved by
Shannon Gerasimchik.
350 lb. competition masterpiece display.

Company, Miscellaneous

Food Art at SeaWorld Texas By The Food Artist Group

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The Food Artist Group visited SeaWorld, in San Antonio Texas, for two weeks of fruit and vegetable carving demonstrations.

The Food Artist Group was created by Food Network Star, James Parker, and includes some of the most talented artists from many different countries. Among those, Greg Butauski of Rock On Ice,
and Dean Murray.

The fruit carvings Greg and Dean created was a part of the new Food and Wine Festival.  Many countries were represented and this fruit display was based on the wildlife of Argentina and Brazil.  From fish, to land animals, and all the way up top to the birds.  There are owls, parrots, tree frogs, iguanas, piranha and more!

Check out more food art from Rock On Ice.

Company, Ice Sculptures

Ice Sculpture Display of a Life Size Kitchen – Over 2 Tons of Ice!

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Ice-Kitchen-for-Zehnder's-Snowfest

Rock On Ice created a life size ice kitchen for Zehnder’s Snowfest in Frankenmuth, Michigan. This ice kitchen used 130 blocks of ice and was over 45,000 lbs. of ice…that’s about 2 tons! The kitchen consisted of: three ovens, a 12 burner stove with grill and griddle, pastry station, wood burning oven, cooler, dish tank, and an interactive dining room table with seating. Take a look at this unbelievable display that took 5 days to complete.

Ice-Table-for-Zehnder's-Kitchen-Display

Here are our talented carvers who helped build this amazing ice kitchen: Nick Foltz, Michael Stoddart, Dean Murray, Greg Butauski, Jeff Petercsak, and Titus Arensberg (not pictured).

Ice-Kitchen-Pastry-ChefHere is one of our chefs, standing at the pastry station. He is rolling out some dough (ice dough that is) with a roller.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about a chef flipping ice eggs.

Ice-Kitchen-Chef-Flipping-EggsIce-Eggs-Up-Close-for-Zehnder's-Ice-Kitchen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A kitchen would not be complete without a dish tank.
Along with some dirty dishes in the sink and clean plates
stacked on racks. Pretty cool!

Ice-Kitchen-Dish-Tank-with-Hose

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chef chasing chickens.

Ice-Kitchen-Chef-Chasing-Chickens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grilling some steaks.

Ice-Kitchen-Greg-Grilling-Steaks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loading the wood burning stove.

Ice-Kitchen-Wood-Burning-Stove

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stirring the pot.

Ice-Kitchen-Michael-Stirring-Pot

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking the pie out of the oven.

Ice-Kitchen-Pie-in-Oven

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was truly a one-of-a-kind ice installation and a great collaboration among some very skilled ice carvers.

Ice-Kitchen-with-Carvers

Company, Miscellaneous

Pumpkin Carving Installation with Over 80 Pumpkins

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Rock On Ice was contracted to carve pumpkins and create a large scale pumpkin display for a zoo’s fall weekend festival. This was some serious pumpkin carving!

We started with over 80 pumpkins and had 2 days to carve.

Pumpkin Carving Demonstration for Zoo

Here we are with the team:
Titus Arensberg, Dean Murray, and Greg Butauski.

Our three carvers pulled a tag team match on the two larger pumpkins. They weighed around 500 lbs each. Each carver would work on the piece for an hour or two then break off to work on the smaller pumpkins to put around the entire display. This was truly a collaborative effort between 3 master pumpkin artists.

 

Here are some detail images of the Haunted House and Skeleton.

And here is the final product. In all we ended up carving 2,400 lbs.  (just over a ton) of pumpkins for this Halloween themed display!

Pumpkin-Carving-Display-for-Milwaukee-Zoo

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rock On Ice carves pumpkins for all kinds of events. We carve small and large pumpkins for doorsteps, buffet tables, centerpieces, Fall weddings, special events, Trick or Treat events, and Fall festivals. We carve large scale pumpkin displays, which have been featured at Zoo’s and area Fall festivals. We also organize large scale pumpkin carving events and competitions.

Check out more of our pumpkin carving and festival entertainment.

Company, Competitions

Ice Sculpting Wins at the Crystal Classic Winter Festival

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Greg Butauski had another gold winning weekend at the Crystal Classic Winter Festival. The event took place February 13-14th in Green River, Wyoming. Greg won both the People’s Choice and the Individual Ice Carving competitions.

T-Rex-Ice-Sculpture-Green-River-Competition

The first day was the People’s Choice. Greg carved his infamous
T-Rex sculpture and was the crowd favorite. This design was 2 blocks carved in 4 hours. Greg pulled out the win, although the weather was horrible for ice sculpting. Carvers were in a race with the sun, working in 55 degree temperatures!

Rooster-Green-River-Ice-Sculpting-CompetitionThe second day featured the individual competition. Greg carved a rooster. This was also 2 blocks and had a 4 hour time limit. Greg took First place and scored a Gold medal.

This was the final competition of the ice carving season. Check out more of Greg’s competition ice sculptures.

 

Company, Competitions

Double Gold Ice Sculpting Wins at St. Joseph Magical Ice Festival

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Peace-and-Love-Ice-Sculpture-with-FamilyThe whole family traveled to Michigan this year to watch Greg Butauski win double golds in both the Individual and Team Ice Sculpting competitions!

 

 

 

 

 

The events took place on February 6-7 in St. Joseph, Michigan. The first day Greg sculpted “Peace and Love.” This was a beautiful 1 block sculpture that took First place and scored a Gold medal in the Individual Event.

Peace-and-Love-Ice-Sculputure-Dove

Peace-and-Love-Ice-Sculpture-Competition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second day was the grueling 8 block/8 hour team event. The sculpture, “Everybody Walk Your Dinosaur” was a giant T-Rex being lead on a leash by a little girl. Greg and teammate, Dean Murray, began the day with not so great weather conditions. Temps got up in the 40’s with sun beating down all day on the sculpture. They used UV-resistant tarps to block out the sun.

The final two minutes were nerve-racking to say the least. This photo was taken with the judge standing by counting down the last seconds. Greg and Dean rushed to get the ice leash to freeze to the dinosaur’s collar.

Everybody-Walk-Your-Dinosaur-Ice-Sculpture-working-on-leash

Everybody-Walk-Your-Dinosaur-Ice-Sculpture-Girl-and-Leash

The crowd cheered as they got the leash to freeze to the little girl’s hand and the judge called time! What an exciting end to a long day.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the final sculpture which took First place and scored another Gold in the Team event! Next up is the Crystal Classic Winter Festival in Green River Wyoming.

Everybody-Walk-Your-Dinosaur-Ice-Sculpture-Full

Company, Ice Sculptures

Rock On Ice Rocks the NHL All Star Weekend

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Columbus-Skyline-and-Arch-Ice-Sculpture-for-NHL-All-Star-Crop

 

 

 

 

Rock On Ice was super excited to be a part of the NHL All Star Weekend, January 23-25, 2015. We had many sculptures going out for various events in town, so check out our pics from this amazing weekend for Columbus.

Fox-Sports-Logo-NHL-All-Star-Ice-Sculpture

Among the numerous events around Columbus for fans, we created this ice sculpture for Fox Sports private party at Hyde Park. It was 4 color logo, 56 inches tall, and used 2 blocks of ice.

 

 

 

 

Here is the beginning our our 20 block arch and city skyline ice sculpture. We created this for a corporate party celebrating the city of Columbus.

NHL-All-Star-Weekend-Ice-Sculpture-Arch-beginning

Almost finished…

NHL-All-Star-Weekend-Ice-Sculpture-Arch-in-progress

Phew—this was a tough one.

NHL-All-Star-Weekend-Ice-Sculpture-Arch-half-complete

The final ice sculpture was 6 feet tall and 12 feet long. Check out the lighted bar completely surrounding the sculpture!

NHL-All-Star-Weekend-Ice-Sculpture-Arch-and-City-Skyline

We were also commissioned to do interactive murals and painting demonstrations. Here are our two mural designs that guests’
could help paint. The design was the Columbus city skyline and
the hockey arena.

Painting-Murals-NHL-All_Star_Weekend-in-progress

Painting-Mural-NHL-All-Star-Weekend-Side-View

It was great to see kids and adults take part in this fun activity!

Painting-Demonstration-NHL-All-Star-Weekend

For the Fan Fair at the Columbus Convention Center, we created an ice hockey alley for Coors Light. The hockey alley used 8 blocks of ice and was 16 feet long. This is a great way to get the crowd involved with your brand–make it interactive!

Ice-Hockey-Shooting-Lane-NHL-All-Star-Weekend-Coors-Light

This was an exciting weekend for the city of Columbus hosting the NHL All Star game, and we were thrilled to be a part of it! Check out some of our other special event sculptures we have created.

Company, Competitions

T-Rex wins a Gold at Leesburg

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T-rex-Ice-Sculpture_Body

It’s the first competition for the 2015 season and Greg Butauski earns a Gold medal for his sculpture titled, “T-Rex.”

The Village at Leesburg, VA, is a new competition on the NICA circuit. It was a tough one, with 8 blocks to carve in 8 hours!

T-rex-Ice-Sculpture-HeadThe event took place January 31 and carvers worked in 30 degree temperatures. It took 2 hours and 30 minutes just to stack the T-Rex sculpture and was completed within the exhausting 8 hour time limit.

Next on the circuit will be St. Joseph’s Magical Ice Festival on February 6th and 7th. Keep checking back to see event results, which all leads to the NICA US Nationals Championship on February 20th.

 

Company, Miscellaneous

The Food Artist Group Goes To Busch Gardens, Virginia

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The Food Artist Group was created and organized  by James Parker of  Veggy Art Studios.  James is a Food Network Champion,  judge and food artist with incredible talent that has a vision for the modern food artist.

James has helped Greg Butauski of Rock On Ice in the past by judging at some of his Food Art Competitions in Akron Ohio and also at The Carve, in Holland Michigan.  Since then they have stayed in contact and have been waiting for the opportunity to work together again.

Then it happened.  James Parker, thinking outside the box, creates a new demonstration format using some of the most talented food artists from all across the country  working in multiple mediums.  They include: chocolate artists, fruit and vegetable carvers, cake artists, bread artists, ice carvers, sugar artists, and cheese artists.

Over dinner and a couple of drinks James and Greg discussed how to make a more interactive ice sculpting show for Busch Gardens in Virginia.  The concept was laid out and then James made it happen.  He said he could fit us into the Food and Wine Festival.  This event was coming into its second year and Greg Butauski and Dean Murray were new to the group and wanted to leave a good impression.

Greg and Dean were very grateful for the opportunity to work with this very elite group of artists!  They were contracted to work on an ice sculpting show and also provide fruit and vegetable carvings for entertainment, right up their alley!

In all, it was a great experience for everyone and James did a great job managing six weeks of entertainment for the Food and Wine Festival keeping the concepts fresh and the art flowing from one week to the next.

To book the Food Artist Group contact us and we can put you in contact with our fearless leader, James Parker.   Otherwise you can check out our Facebook page for the Food Artist Group

Company, Miscellaneous

Sand Sculpting Demonstrations for your summer event

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Summer is fast approaching and now is the time to start planning entertainment for your corporate event or festival.

Besides specializing in ice sculpting, Rock On Ice can bring a fun, interactive element to your event— sand sculpting!

Having a sand sculpting demonstration is a great way to draw many visitors to your event and to keep them coming back . Visitors will love to see the progression of the sculpture, starting out as just boxes of packed sand, to a completed, amazing sand sculpture!

Sand sculpting is a great attraction for both adults and kids. We can even set up a kid’s area where they can practice their own sand sculptures.  Or, have us create a photo opportunity for the family, as in this sculpture below.

Safari Sand Sculpture Demonstration
Demonstrations can last from a couple hours to extending over a couple days—we can work with your schedule and budget.

Rock On Ice has worked with the Ohio State Fair, and the Dublin Irish Festival, among others.

Below is the sculpture we completed for the Ohio State Fair. They produced a game in 2013, and we were given the challenge of recreating that game as a sand sculpture, with all the game pieces!

Ohio State Fair Sand Sculpture Demonstration

“We have hired Greg Butauski at the Ohio State Fair since 2012. His sand sculptures, varying in size from 20 to 40 tons have been a wonderful attraction and photo opportunity for our patrons.”
– Brett Chance,
The Ohio State Fair

Here is a beautiful sand sculpture of a castle for the Dublin Irish Festival.

Sand Sculpture of Castle

Check out our sand sculpture gallery below for more pics. And, don’t forget to add a fun, interactive demonstration to your event—one that will make a lasting impression on visitors!

If you are interested in a  sand sculpture demonstration, please contact Greg Butauski.