Ice cubism

With the arrival of the holiday season, there was an unbearable void at the home of Leo and Polly LeBlanc. The house at 1601 Third Avenue West in the Falls, where five sons — Carey, John, Larry, the late Paul, and Mark — were raised, felt overwhelmingly empty following their deaths.

But brothers Mark and John eased the sadness by building a little church in the late couple’s front yard. The memorial was the inspiration for 18 more ice sculptures in 18 consecutive winters.

The residence now his, Mark LeBlanc has built ice models of Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion, the Eiffel Tower, the White House, a space shuttle, a historical church and many others in its yard.

This year, LeBlanc features the Emerald City from the “Wizard of Oz,” a story favored by his daughter Polly, who is his mother’s namesake. “So she was the engineer on this one,” he said, noting that he has two teenage daughters, the other named Markki.

LeBlanc constructs his ice sculptures by building plastic-lined boxes and trays from wood in which water is frozen into shapes. Initially he cut and hauled 8-inch slabs of ice from Little Moose Lake, he said, but that proved too difficult.

Ice slush is used as mortar, holding the elements of the design together. “And when it’s really cold out, it sticks good and fast,” LeBlanc said, admitting that in bitter temperatures, he briskly melds just a piece at a time and then runs for the garage to warm up.

Completed Feb. 28, LeBlanc’s Emerald City is built on an ice base and is ensconced with a yellow brick road. Green lights give the sculpture a glow as in the 1939 fantasy movie. The farm girl from Kansas and her cohorts, as well as millions of children who have watched the film through seven decades, are drawn to the magic.

The story’s message, “There’s no place like home,” is reminiscent of LeBlanc’s original sentiment regarding his childhood home.

In 2000, he found himself sculpting another tribute to a loved one. After his brother Paul died, he created a beaconed lighthouse — the icon of continuous illumination.

Another of LeBlanc’s sculptures honored the marriage of his grandparents Adeline and John LeBlanc. It was a replica in ice of a little country church in Belle Prairie outside Little Falls, Minn., where the couple was married in 1902. The actual church still stands, he said, and was recently renovated.

During another winter, LeBlanc created an ice sculpture using the theme of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers castle to honor his dad Leo, who served the U.S. Army Reserves for many years.

And built to technical scale in 2003 was a model of the space shuttle Columbia which exploded, killing all aboard in 1986. After sending a photograph of his sculpture to the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, he received one of the usual thank yous sent to thousands who expressed sympathy for the nation’s loss. But included with it was a handwritten note thanking him for a particularly moving tribute which would be mounted onto a poster and displayed at Kennedy Space Center.

LeBlanc did two ice sculptures of the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, Ariz. The first model “looked more like an outhouse,” he chuckled.

The structures are usually started after the new year, he said, and even January thaws can throw dimensions off during the creative process. But recent and especially warm temperatures are shrinking the Emerald City to a less-brilliant version of itself.

Ideas for coming winters are jelling. Next year, LeBlanc said he may create a memorial for the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. And in coming years, he also hopes to create an ice sculpture in tribute to the U.S. military forces.

For more photos, pick up today's edition of The Journal.