If you love ice sculptures, now is the time to head over to The James New York on Grand Street. Last week, the father-son team of Takeo and Shintaro Okamoto created a garden of frozen towers on the outdoor deck there.

Raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Shintaro said,

“Not all Alaskans play with ice — but I did.”

And today, that playing has paid off. For the last two weeks, they’ve been preparing for this series of sculptures at their Long Island City, Queens studio, pre-cutting 75 pieces of ice into building blocks.

Then, it took them six hours to stack the 15,000 pounds of blocks into two 11 foot towers and one 9 foot tower.

Of course, no one predicted the 60 degree weather that is expected this week. But, as Shintaro said,

“The melting process is part of the art.”

Visitors will find the ice sculptures if they walk through the lobby of the hotel and the free exhibit will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to midnight until January 1.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWScAKZd0BY&w=560&h=315]