Move over Michelangelo: Roy gains fame as snow sculptor

(Photo contributed) Lara Roy, an LCS graduate, earned this snow sculpting trophy with her crew, including her brother Chris, at a Des Moines competition among sculpting teams from different colleges. Roy's team used everything from shovels to spoons and pencils to carve Zeus. Roy's snow art has gained her local fame at Simpson College and even a spot on National Geographic's website. [Click to enlarge]

In the warmer seasons, the Le Mars Community graduate uses sidewalk chalk to decorate the walkways around Simpson College where she's a sophomore.

Then winter hits.

So Roy decided to use what she has to work with.

Snow.

She started out small, sculpting what she calls a "funny little dinosaur." But her snowy escapades have grown to a contest-winning Zeus and a tree-hugger that was featured on the National Geographic's website.

Her hobby began with an intramural snow sculpting contest at Simpson College. That's when she made the dinosaur.

Then around Valentine's Day, she sculpted a snow couple cuddling on a park bench on the campus.

"I like leaving random things around campus," she said.

Her art was anonymous. No signature to trace it back to her.

"Some of my friends knew I did it, and some people started to put it together," Roy said.

But not everybody. One day, the entire campus got an email from an art professor. He said there was a snow sculpting contest to be held at Grandview College in Des Moines and they were seeking entries from other colleges.

"He said, 'Would whoever did those other sculptures on campus be interested in this?'" Roy remembered.

There was a $100 entry fee, but the professor said he'd take care of it.

So Roy and her brother Michael and some friends decided to enter.

"We were supposed to do our school's mascot, but we were the Simpson Storm, and how do you do that?" Roy asked.

They decided to sculpt Zeus, the god of thunder.

The group started with a giant block of snow.

"They took shovels, whatever tool they could find, and started chipping away," Roy said.

She wasn't able to join them on the first night, but the next day she did. The weather was great.

"It was 40 degrees. We were working in T-shirts," Roy said.

Weather is important for snow sculpting, she explained.

"The perfect time is when it's a little above freezing, and the next few days are supposed to be below freezing," she said. "That's when I do it."

So the 40-degree day made the snow easy to handle during the Grandview College competition. They could take snow off, but also add it if they wanted because it was sticky.

"We were using pencils, spoons, our hands," Roy said.

Finally they finished. Their majestic Zeus won the contest.

"We got a big traveling trophy with our college's name on it," Roy said. "The best part is the medallion on the top -- it's a snowman holding a broom."

It wasn't really about winning for Roy; she just loves the art of it. She's loved it since she was young.

"When I was little, my dad would take us out in the snow and help us make forts with tunnels and slides and everything," she said.

Now, even when there's not a contest, Roy is thinking up her next sculpture. One of her favorites is a sculpture of the famous Thinker statue. Roy built it in the Circle of Knowledge, an outdoor spot on her campus.

"I was getting ready for finals week, and I needed a break," she said.

She also built a tree hugger -- a snow person literally hugging a tree.

"I came up with the idea earlier this year when the environmental club taped pieces of paper to trees saying 'Hug a Tree,'" Roy said.

Her friend Sarah helped her out.

The tree hugger sculpture is the one that made it on the "National Geographic" website.

Roy said she's always loved "National Geographic."

"I got the magazine as a child, and I had it sent to me at college," she said.

She also visits the magazine's website and noticed it features a dozen photos every day submitted by readers.

"I decided I would see if I could get one on it," Roy said. "Each day they get hundreds of pictures and the editor picks 12."

She submitted a photo of one of her sculptures in December.

Then in January.

Then in February.

Then one Thursday she got an email from a professor, congratulating her.

The "National Geographic" editor had picked her photo.

"I was ecstatic," Roy said.

So what will her next creation be?

"I'm not sure," she said with a laugh. "We'll have to wait and see."