Ice, ice baby

Don Chapelle has loaded onto the plaza by the Aquarium and is carving an 18-foot shark.  There should be plenty of pictures of him in tomorrow's papers, because there have been plenty of photographers crawling around.

We're getting lots of calls about whether people can come into town early to see ice sculpting.  The short answer is yes.  But as you all know, short answers often lack the nuance and complexity necessarily to accurately descibe a situation.  Ice sculpting is weather dependant, and there is a spot of rain in the forecast.  If it's raining, sometimes the sculptors will cover the ice and wait for it to pass.

As far as I can tell at this moment-

- From Wednesday, you should be able to see a completed "Shark on Ice"  by Don Chapelle at the Aquarium

- Beginning on Thursday, you should be able to see Don and his crew working on "Mangrove" on the Boston Common, not far from Brewer's Fountain.  He tends to work days, 10 to 5 or so.

- Beginning Friday night, you should start to see Steve Rose and his crew working on American Eagle at the Boston Common Frog Pond.  He tends to work overnights.

- Eric and Alfred, who carve the Copley Square pieces, usually don't load in until the night before the event, so if you head over there before that, you won't see much more than barricades!

Again, all weather dependant, so no guarantees.  It's ice!