Simon Beck is an artist from Southern England that uses snowshoes to create giant land art in the snow. Most of his work takes place in the ski resort of Les Arcs in the French Alps where Beck has a chalet and spends most of his winters. After planning the initial design on paper using a protractor and ruler, each piece takes Simon about 10 hours to complete.
An orienteering map maker by trade, you can find all of Beck’s work on his frequently updated Facebook page. Below you will find a small selection of his amazing work along with information about his process and technique sprinkled throughout.
[via My Modern Met]
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What are the ideal weather conditions for snow art?
A heavy snowfall once a week with 6 days of fine cold weather between. This would allow one to make 2 designs per week and get good photos, then re-use the sites the following week. [Source]
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What are the basic tools someone needs?
Snowshoes and an orienteering compass, preferably a sighting compass, and some kind of string or measuring tape is required for some designs. [Source]
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What are some challenges you typically face?
They are easy to do but also very easy to get wrong. The hardest past is avoiding a ‘stupid’ mistake, and the most frequent cause of those is a wrong aiming point (straight lines are made by aiming at a point in the distance but one can easily accidentally aim at the wrong point). The most painful part is getting changed into warmer clothes as the temperature drops, as this often means removing clothing that has got damp, and you get VERY cold in the process. Getting a decent photo can also be difficult, at least 25 percent have to be done again because of a failure to get the photo. [Source]
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