Greenfield native Doug Cassidy will fly halfway around the world on Saturday, Jan. 31, to the 76th Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan. Alongside teammates Cody Perkins and Katie Knipe, he will represent Team USA at the 50th International Snow Sculpting Contest.
The 64-year-old Cassidy graduated from Franklin County Technical School in 1980 and was working at Erving Paper when he decided to throw his skis in the back of his car, drive west and be a ski bum.
His first stop was Colorado, but then he heard the skiing was better in Wyoming, so he drove to Jackson Hole. That wasn’t the right fit either, so he headed to Victor, Idaho.
“We call it ‘Wydaho,’” Cassidy said. “Everyone’s into the outdoors. Grand Teton is my backyard, Yellowstone is close by. The vistas are incredible.
“The only downside is the older I get, the longer the winters. It snows every month and we averaged 500 inches a year. I’ll wake up on an August morning and there’s snow on the mountains.”
When he’s not restoring and repairing antiques or building log cabins, Cassidy is teaching youngsters how to snow sculpt. “I’ve spent years mentoring high school teams in the art,” he said. “This year they’re doing a ship getting wrecked in half by a giant octopus. I give them the instructions and they do the work.
“I was always drawing and doodling when I was a kid, but it didn’t evolve until I came here and got involved with the arts community,” said Cassidy, referring to Teton Arts in Driggs, Idaho, where artists go to learn, exhibit and educate others. It’s there he unveiled his first snow sculpture, a tiki head — one of those large-headed, wide-eyed Polynesian masks that’s part of their culture.”
One day he met a couple from back home: Ralph Mossman and Mary Mulaney, of Shelburne and Turners Falls, respectively. After working with renowned Shelburne glass blower Josh Simpson, they decided to move to Driggs and introduce a snow sculpting competition similar to those in Breckenridge, Colorado, and Stillwater, Minnesota.
“It’s a small world,” Cassidy said. “We got together and Cody Perkins came on the scene and we put on a show that’s become Driggs Snowscapes.”
He became more skilled and prolific, teaming up with Knipe and three others to create a bronco rider on a bucking bull that captured first place. He has sculpted mountain men, buffaloes, and characters from “The Wizard of Oz” and Dr. Seuss books.
They began with an idea that was transferred to a drawing and then to a clay model.
“I had a sculptor ask me where I went to art school. I never went, never even took a class,” Cassidy said. “My art is my life. Every experience I’ve had goes into my work.”
Heavy-duty insulated gloves are essential for working in minus 5 temps, and everyone hopes that cloudy skies will hide the sun. Paintings last centuries, but snow sculptures often only last hours.
“They’re very delicate. I’ve had several collapses,” Cassidy said. “It’s a lesson in non-attachment. I know they’re going to melt, but if I can put a smile on someone’s face, it’s been a job well done.”
Unlike ice sculpting, snow sculpting contestants can only use hand tools. “Sometimes we create our own tools, simple saws and handsaws,” he said.
Parts can be reattached but Cassidy remembers the time he’d designed a grizzly bear that was coming around a tree and about to clothesline a cowboy — and the cowboy fell off. “We left him there, and we still won first place,” he said.
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The trip to the Sapporo Snow Festival is being sponsored by Columbia Sportswear of Portland, Oregon.
“They’re supplying us with hotel, food, travel … all expenses. I just kind of fell into it. They asked for pictures, which I sent, and they said, ‘OK, you’re in,'” Cassidy said. “Cody’s our team captain and Katie’s our other teammate. We’ll be competing with some of the best in the world.”
Teams from 10 countries will have 48 hours over four days to sculpt designs from blocks of snow that are 10 feet wide and high, and finished in time for when the festival opens on Feb. 4.
Team USA has decided to create a windsurfer on waves and surrounded by fish.
“When you’re at the block, that first step is the hardest, but once you’re into it you gain momentum and see the creation,” Cassidy said. “You use every second and every bit of energy, because there’s always more detail to put into it.”
Judges will look for technical skill, detail and originality.
“The design must be a first-time original. You cannot do something you’ve previously done,” he said. “That’s considered cheating. You’re always thinking of a concept.”
Cassidy said there will be live links to the competition. “YouTube might have something. Look for me in a black cowboy hat — my sculpting hat so I won’t get snow down my neck.”
Whatever happens, they won’t come home wealthy.
“First place is $1,500, which I figure comes to 50 cents an hour,” he said. “It’s art for art’s sake, and whatever we win we’ll blow on a team dinner.”
Win or lose, what a feast it will be.