My name is Matt Morris and I'm a community snow sculptor in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. I've been making large snow sculptures on our front lawn for many years. I've figured out how to build tall towers of snow and then carve them into sculptures. I almost always use non-packing (dry) snow. You might be surprised to learn that non-packing snow is the best type of snow for sculpting. There is no need to wait for packing snow! The story continues further down the page, but for those that want to jump right in, here are three key videos.
1. How to get started with snow sintering. 2. How to carve a gnome in 5 easy steps. A quick video designed for cellphone viewing. 3. A somewhat longer video covering how to carve a gnome. All cuts with just a little plastic knife. Simply click the videos below to begin viewing. Have fun out there!
This website attempts to share my journey in snow. In the menu system you will find a yearly history of my creations and, if you are interested, you can follow my development as an artist. Elsewhere you will find more detail on many topics such as: how to make a tower of snow, how I make them spin, how I use plasticine to improve my sculpting skills, how I create the eyes and more. And everything is free! Enjoy!
I snow sculpt because it's a blast. I enjoy the challenge of designing and building the structures and receive equal enjoyment from the interaction with the community. Each winter I have hundreds of great discussions with local kids and their parents, community members, taxi drivers, Canada Post workers, delivery specialists, and many who just hang out their car window for a quick chat. It's also a great workout! It's also a very reasonable hobby as costs are minimal. And lastly, I don't worry about storing my 'art' as it always melts off to a better place.
Lastly, consider joining my virtual and socially distanced snow sculpting club! I created the club to help us all survive the pandemic that started in 2020! Check out the menu above for the appropriate link. But even if you don't join the club, the page will show you how to get started with snow sculpting--especially when the snow is non-packing! Included on the page is detailed instructions on how to make the snow pounding tool I designed--it's called the QP7000! I do NOT sell this tool—remember, everything is free!
There are now over 30 commercial free ‘how to’ videos too. You can jump to them by popping open the SNOW SCULPTING CLUB menu above.
For the majority of the demos only a ‘robust plastic knife’ is used. Some videos do review other tools. Parents, guardians and/or caregivers should always be involved in tool choice decisions. Safety first!
Thanks for being curious enough to visit my site!
Breaking News:
February, 2025. I finally carved snow with my great American friend Dave Rothstein. We’ve known each other for many years online but finally got together to carve in Jackson, New Hampshire, and then Rutland Vermont. And Lorna was a key part of the team too! We won “People's Choice” in Jackson and 2nd place in Rutland!
Jackson, New Hampshire on a 4’ X 8’ cylinder that we took apart to make a moose. The snow quality was an added challenge.
Stuck on you!
Rutland, Vermont on a 6’ X 6’ X 8’ block.
A little kid gets his tongue stuck on a pole and his big sister tries to pull him off. Check the menu for the whole story. Again, the snow quality was a challenge and the freezing rain and ice pellets on the last day added to the fun!
Plague Doctor! Great Slave Lake, Yellowknife, NWT
At the end of February, Dave and I joined Bogdan Kutsevych of Ukraine in Yellowknife, NWT.
We carved on Great Slave Lake.
Some of my favourites over the years:
Two feet of snow landed on a lake up in Muskoka.
Dragon with buddies on a toboggan!
The above picture is #2 (all time) for Reddit/Art with over 56,000 likes!
This one rotated!
My second owl. I turned the eyes on my wood lathe and then painted them. Later, they fell out.
The tallest foot I ever created. Pretty sure it was an athletes foot.
The first carve of each season is a Moai.
This carving was about 7’ tall.
I called it “What we need".
Carl from the movie Up. Later he would be joined by his faithful companion Dug.
I launched a Twitter poll to see if people wanted Mick Jagger or Steven Tyler. They chose Mick. He rotated too.