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