ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – While some couples meet over coffee, Jennifer Jansma and Eric Shumar’s love story was carved in ice.
The Anchorage couple met 18 years ago while apprenticing with different ice carvers at the downtown ice skating rink.
“So ours is the story of the ice,” Jansma said. “I was actually apprenticing with two lovely people — Susan and Roy — who brought me into ice carving … and lo and behold, that is where I saw Eric as he helped little old ladies across the ice pond downtown at the [Performing Arts Center].”
Their first interactions were shy conversations and shared music in the warm-up hut.
Then came Jan. 19, 2008, and a fire pit gathering.
“We always call up the night of the fire,” Jennifer said. “Night of the magic. Magic and fire.”
Eric said they stayed out and talked all night long around the fire pit.
“We just knew there was something,” Jennifer added. ”Now, two kids, three dogs, a house, and here we are.”
The following year, they carved their first sculpture together and called it Love’s Flame: Fire and Ice.
The couple balances each other in their artistic approach.
“We’re both artists,” Shumar explained. “She’s the more fine, more detailed artist. And I’m more like, I’m doing more of the bulkier stuff.”
Every sculpture becomes a collaboration, though the medium is unforgiving. Ice rarely forgives mistakes, and one wrong move can shatter hours of work.
Each sculpture tells a chapter of their family story. When Jennifer was pregnant with their first child, they carved a mama bear and baby bear. When they had three family members, they created three giraffes.
“Our ice carving is kind of like the story of our life. So each carving that we’ve done has kind of been a — I guess, an example of who we are in that period of our life,” Jansma said.
Their children began helping with the sculptures about three years ago. This year, their two kids created totem poles to accompany the main sculpture featuring four ravens representing each family member.
“I was just proud,” Jansma said. “Proud of how they worked with ice and understanding how things fracture off of it, how you don’t have to be perfect at everything, how as things grow and as they form, it’s something beautiful.”
The family sees parallels between ice sculpting and parenting, both requiring patience and the ability to let go.
“Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. A mistake is not a failure. You can actually create something beautiful out of it,” Jansma said.
The sculptures participate in the Alaska Botanical Garden’s winter display, where they join other ice carvers in the annual tradition.
The ice will disappear and the sculptures will melt, but what they’ve built together as a family remains permanent.
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