The snow sculpture is the centerpiece of Winter Carnival.
This year's sculpture features a 14-foot cat perched upon a 16-foot hat in commemoration of Dr. Seuss' 100th birthday. The sculptors were able to finish the giant sculpture on time for Thursday's unveiling despite concerns early last week about a lack of snow.
"We were a bit worried when we had to pay Facilities, Operations and Management to plow snow over to the site. But with the snow last Tuesday and Friday, the structure should be ready for sculpting by Monday," Jeff Woodward '06, a co-captain of the sculpting team, said Sunday.
The cat began to take form Monday when the project's main sculptor, Victoria Sol '07, and a team of volunteers began scrapping snow from the top of structure. By Wednesday the cat atop the hat had taken full form, and by Thursday the Cat struck its Rodin-esque pose atop an oversized top hat.
Sol concentrated on bringing the cat to life with an array of sculpting tools while volunteers focused on the less artistic job of carving the hat with wire.
Student volunteers first began to construct the sculpture on Jan. 31, along with sculpting team members Woodward, Sol, Luke Wachter '06, Dan Schneider '07 and Chris Polashenski '07.
Before the actual sculpting began, the structure consisted of a layered series of four-foot tall blocks of decreasing size. The structure's volume was 410 cubic feet with a first layer of 100 cubic feet. The whole structure is estimated to be between 28 and 30 feet tall, including the hat made of plywood and builder's tube that rests atop the cat's head.
While this year's sculpture is an improvement over those of recent years, it does not compare with the behemoths of the past.
In 1955, students constructed an Eskimo riding a whale so sturdy that it had to be dynamited in the spring. In keeping with 1957's theme of "Fire and Ice," a 50-foot Indian emerging from flames adorned the center of the Green. This theme was reused in 1969, and inspired a dragon capable of breathing fire.
The sculpture has been enhanced since its low-point in the 1990s. Not since 1944, when students made a small structure with a base that read "Wartime Carnival," had the sculpture been so abysmal.
In 1997, a would-be knight riding his steed submitted to the unexpectedly warm weather. Students were adding the finishing touches when the sculpture collapsed.
The snow for the 1996 sculpture, a stegosaurus eating Baker Tower, had to be trucked-in. The effort was wasted as the prehistoric beast was drenched with rain at the start of the Carnival.
Likewise, a wolf balancing on its hind legs melted into an unidentifiable lump in the middle of the Green in 1995.
The sculpture has also been used to express political opinions about world events.
Students expressed disapproval with the Gulf War by crafting a sculpture of Neptune and marking the ground in front of Dartmouth Hall with a red peace sign.
The sculpture has not always been a part of Winter Carnival. It was introduced in 1925 in the form of a realistic four-turret castle, which became the first of many awe-inspiring structures.
