Cherokee student turns snow into works of art

Photo album of all the Snow Sculptures

MOORESBURG — A true artist is capable of taking something ordinary — like a pile of snow — and making it into something beautiful.

Some people may have looked at this weekend’s snow accumulation as a nuisance, a playground or a temporary enhancement to the landscape.

But Cherokee High School senior Amber Williams of Mooresburg looked at this weekend’s snow accumulation as clay for her to shape several artistic visions.

Her mother, Melynda Williams, told the Times-News Tuesday that while Amber has shown tremendous talent at drawing, until now her sculpture accomplishments had been limited to “Play-Doh.”

Following Friday’s snowstorm, however, Amber sculpted a dog, a cat and a horse from snow on her back porch on Church Lane. Later, she sculpted a dove in the yard.

Fortunately all the creations were photographed because the dove eventually collapsed in the sunlight. The dove didn’t die in vain, however, as Amber salvaged the remaining dove snow to create a man holding a dog.

She said the snow was perfect for sculpting this weekend, and she used the heat from her hands to melt it for the fine details.

“I love to express myself through art,” Amber told the Times-News Tuesday. “I have never done snow sculptures before. I made a traditional snowman and decided I wanted to try to make something else. I love dogs and thought about trying a dog. That was my first sculpture.”

Amber added, “Then I thought about a cat, and I posed its paw to hold something, and I grabbed my dog’s chew toy and placed it under its paw. I decided to try something a little more challenging and try a horse. When I ran out of snow on my back porch, I moved to my front yard and built a bird.”

On Monday, Amber’s mother e-mailed photos of the sculptures to some friends working in the Hawkins County Schools Central Office, including Linda Kimbro.

Kimbro, who is also a Hawkins County commissioner, then forwarded the photos to a Times-News reporter.

“I just thought they were so beautiful, they needed to be shared with the world,” Kimbro said. “It’s really amazing that one of our Hawkins County students could create something like that. Really impressive.”

Amber graduates from CHS this spring and plans to attend East Tennessee State University. Her mother has encouraged her to study art.

I didn’t look at anything to sculpt my snow sculptures,” Amber said. “I used my imagination and my two hands.”