Gold Medalist Shares Ice-Carving Mastery With Students

Chef Robert Lo Furno, a competitive ice carver, food service director for Aramark at the University of Delaware, and father of baking and pastry arts student Nicole C. Lo Furno, visited Pennsylvania College of Technology, where he and his wife, Monica – also an accomplished ice carver – spent Thursday in the courtyard outside the Keystone Dining Room working alongside School of Business & Hospitality students to share the tricks of the trade. Working well after dark, students in Chef Craig A. Cian’s Artistic Buffet Decoration course used the Lo Furnos’ specialty tools and lessons in technique to produce six ice sculptures that remain on display outside the dining hall's atrium.

– Photos by Jennifer A. Cline, writer/editor-One College Avenue

Shelby K. Roche defines the shape of a snowflake “relief” ice sculpture.

Ice flies as David L. Glunk Jr. and other student sculptors transform frozen blocks to art.

Chef Robert Lo Furno carves details into a pair of swans.

Monica Lo Furno, also an ice carver, offers instruction to student Tracy A. DeCoursey.

Faculty and students alike gather to learn from Chef Robert Lo Furno, a gold medal-winning ice carver.

A gazelle seemingly prances through the courtyard.

An angel fish swims among waving seaweed.

A tall fish figure helped students to learn the “stacked block” technique for building a sculpture.

A pair of swans displays wedding-worthy detail.

An enduring design recreated in ice.

Arthur Carroll adds detail to a fish sculpture.

A pair of snowflakes demonstrates relief carving.