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With no more snow days, art teacher inspires students with outdoor snow sculptures

1:02
Superintendent’s snow day announcement will melt your heart
Katina Gustafson
ByNicole Pelletiere
February 18, 2021, 11:20 PM

A middle school art teacher is inspiring her students to get creative during the pandemic by showing off the epic snow sculptures in front of her home.

Katina Gustafson of East Providence, Rhode Island, has been handcrafting multidimensional designs since 2009. This year, she's lifted spirits as her school follows a hybrid learning model.

"I'll ask attendance questions to get them engaged [like], 'If you can choose my next snow sculpture what would it be?'" Gustafson told "God Morning America." "We problem solve on the building process on how it could work, and make suggestions like incorporating icicles."

Prior to the pandemic, Gustafson made a Starbucks cup, doughnut and a gumball machine in March 2019.

PHOTO: Katina Gustafson of East Providence, Rhode Island, has been handcrafting multi-dimensional snow designs since 2009. Here she kneels with a gumball machine she created from snow in March 2019.
Katina Gustafson of East Providence, Rhode Island, has been handcrafting multi-dimensional snow designs since 2009. This last year, she's especially lifted spirits with the onset of the pandemic and her school following a hybrid learning model. Here she kneels with a gumball machine she created from snow in March 2019.
Katina Gustafson
A middle school art teacher named Katina Gustafson of East Providence, Rhode Island, is inspiring her students to get creative during the pandemic by building epic snow sculptures in front of her home.
Katina Gustafson

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Most recently, she made Baby Yoda, a dinosaur Mr. Potato Head and a Bernie Sanders-themed sculpture in which she dressed as Sanders from the viral moment during the presidential inauguration.

Katina Gustafson, an art teacher from East Providence, Rhode Island, made a gnome-inspired snow sculpture in front of her home to keep students entertained.
Katina Gustafson
Katina Gustafson, an art teacher from East Providence, Rhode Island, made a Bernie Sanders-inspired snow sculpture in front of her home to keep students entertained.
Katina Gustafson
A middle school art teacher named Katina Gustafson of East Providence, Rhode Island, is inspiring her students to get creative during the pandemic by building epic snow sculptures in front of her home.
Katina Gustafson

Gustafson said that some of her students will even send photos of their own creations. So far she's seen a giant snowman and a reindeer with sticks for antlers.

Katina Gustafson, an art teacher from East Providence, Rhode Island, made a Starbucks-inspired snow sculpture in front of her home to keep students entertained.
Katina Gustafson

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Gustafson said it's difficult for her students to get outside while learning from home, and she's happy her projects encourage them to do so.

Katina Gustafson of East Providence, Rhode Island, stands in front of a Mr. Potato Head sculpture she made out of snow to inspire her students to go outside and play.
Katina Gustafson

"There are no snow days anymore, which is a little heartbreaking, but I do tell the kids when school's over to go out and play in the snow," Gustafson added.

Gustafson said her next idea is to create an interactive mermaid tail where people can pose inside of the sculpture.

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of Lucasfilm and "Star Wars."

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