Q&A: This Waterloo snow sculptor explains how he makes his snow art

A gnome, an owl, old man winter and a snow bear: those are just some of the snow sculptures Matthew Morris of Waterloo has created this year.

Morris is a Waterloo craftsman who in August made headlines for his lightweight canoe. During the winter months, he's more known as a snow sculptor extraordinaire who transforms his front-yard with snow sculptures that captivate passersby.

He joined CBC K-W's The Morning Edition guest host Joe Pavia to talk about his passion for making snow art.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Joe Pavia: You have become well-known in the community for your snow sculptures. How did this all start for you?

Matthew Morris: Well, probably when I was five years old, and my mother pushed me out the door saying, 'time to get some fresh air, Matthew.'

Over the years, I've just always loved snow. More recently, about 15 years ago, my wife and I were in a museum and turned the corner. And then there, right in front of us was a gigantic Moai from Easter Island, properly called the Island of Rapa Nui. I looked at it, and I had a moment and I said to Lorna, 'you know what? We need to make one of those on our front lawn next winter.'

So we attempted that. As many of us have done over the years, we waited for packing snow. And then I rolled enormous balls and put them up. It was okay. It was a crude comparison, but it was certainly fun.

But I also had a moment thinking, there's got to be a better way than wrecking my back rolling these enormous snowballs. That's where it all started.

Joe Pavia: So what else have you created in your front yard this year? Is there anything new?

Matthew Morris: This is my 14th year of doing it on the front lawn. I've been trying to learn new skills and develop my skills.

So far I've actually had four carvings. It depends how you look at it, but for me, it's been an amazing winter. I've put up a little gnome just to tease people when it first started. And then I made a seven foot tall owl. And then I switched to an old man winter. And then more recently, actually a little further up north, I made a snow bear. All these are about seven feet tall.

My snowbank is now just waiting for the next snowfall on Boxing Day. The snow bank itself is about four feet off the ground already.

Joe Pavia: Where do you get the inspiration? You mentioned you saw the Easter Island sculpture. Is it a feeling? [Do] you look at [something] and then think, 'hey I can do that?'

Matthew Morris: Certainly at this stage, I think I have a better eye for realizing what might work in the bank. But certainly inspiration comes from many places, even the kids walking by on the streets.

I had a little five year old the other day trudging up the walkway on his way to school because we are on the walking road here. He walked by, turned back, screwed up his courage, looked up and said we made a gnome on our lawn. So that was a lot of fun. I do get a number of ideas from kids walking by on the sidewalk.

Joe Pavia: A lot of people are maybe at the stage of just rolling a ball to try to make a snow person. How can anyone go about building the sculpture part of that? What do people need?

Matthew Morris:  Well, here's my breaking news for some of your listeners. The non-packing, fluffy snow is by far the best snow for snow sculpting. Maybe two, three times a winter we get packing snow, and that's what we've all done for years. It's such hard work. But most of our snow is fluffy, non-packing.

Here's the quick process. We shovel it into a five-gallon pail, fill it up and then pound it down with our hands. Then fill it again, and pound it down again maybe three or four times until it's really full and pounded. Then you grab the handle, flip it over and then you've created your first little tower of snow.

But you don't want to just make one, you want to make lots. You've got to get the pail off. With a quick twist and lift up, the pail comes off. You do it again. [After] a little bit of exercise and fresh air outside, after 15 or 20 minutes, you'll have 10 or 15 buckets of snow.

Now, as many of your listeners will be thinking at this point, 'yes, but those are so fragile.' If you touch one now, it'll quickly fall apart. But then if you leave it and be patient for two or three hours, the magic of sintering will occur, and that's where the snow will, overtime, bond or meld together and create a structure in that block.

I was fortunate enough to get a little piece of [light rail transit] track. It's quite heavy. It weighs 32 pounds, and I always have fun showing people that I can actually drop this 32-pound piece of LRT track on my little pail of snow after it's sintered and it's [structured].

At that point you have two choices, to either go ahead and build a little fort or whatever you want to build, or start carving with safe carving tools.

LISTEN | Waterloo's Matthew Morris on making snow sculptures: