On the afternoon of Monday, February 17, during a quiet first day of study break, nine students could be spotted lugging dozens upon dozens of milk cartons onto the Studley Quad.
Their creation 鈥� a colourful wall of ice 鈥� took only about three hours to build but was a popular sight for faculty, staff and students on campus throughout the week.
Art for the community
The project was the brainchild of Hadrian Laing, a Dal student double-majoring in Philosophy and Environment, Sustainability and Society.
鈥淚t started out as just a simple experiment I was going to do in my backyard,鈥� he says, adding that he got the general idea from a similar project he saw on the website Reddit. 鈥淚t fell in line with a new year鈥檚 resolution of mine, which was to create one art project every month.鈥�
He was inspired to expand the project as part of his work towards completing . The program, which offers students the ability to gain skills and tools needed to apply sustainable leadership on both a personal and community level, involves completing three modules. During the second module, Laing was tasked with an action project and thought his art installation might fit the bill.
鈥淲ith [the instructors鈥橾 guidance, they helped make it more sustainable: using melted snow rather than tap water, and using natural dyes instead of food colouring鈥� the goal shifted from me doing an art project for my sake to making something for the community, for Dalhousie, with the support of my friends and neighbours.鈥�
Brick by brick
The wall was built by freezing melted snow inside more than 100 milk cartons, many of them donated by community members who Laing solicited by going door-to-door. (鈥淚t鈥檚 the 鈥榬euse鈥� side of the recycling equation,鈥� he exlains.) After five days, Laing and a group of friends brought them to campus where, with hot water donated by the Killam Second Cup, they fused the sculpture together.
Though much of the colour has washed away since Monday, the construction is still standing, and Laing hopes it brought a bit of fun to campus to combat the winter blahs.
鈥淚n February, people are really sick of the weather. I鈥檝e grown up in Halifax my whole life, so I know it鈥檚 a tough month and known for being grey. So I wanted to make something colourful for the community out of the materials that winter has given us鈥� I wanted something fun and colourful and different.鈥�