When Snow Becomes Art – Not Vital’s “Snowballs”

Must a work of art resemble a neoclassical oil painting by Chur-born artist Angelika Kauffmann to be considered art? Must it depict historical scenes, exquisitely rendered in oil on canvas? Or might glass spheres qualify as well? They might—at least in the case of Not Vital’s snowballs.

Born in the Engadin valley in 1948, the artist created 700 glass spheres in collaboration with the renowned glassmakers of Murano, the Venetian island famed for its artisanal craftsmanship. From a craft perspective alone, the snowballs—some of which are part of the collection at the Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur, Graubünden’s art museum—undeniably meet the criteria for art. Not Vital came to understand early on that art need not be confined to canvas and oil. At the age of twelve, he was invited by Max Huggler, then curator of the Kunsthalle Bern, to his home in the Lower Engadin. There, he was introduced to a number of artworks, among them a piece by Kurt Schwitters composed of everyday objects. The young Not Vital was captivated.

Today, the artist continues to engage with the mundane and the transitory—seeking, in an age of climate change, to preserve one of Graubünden’s most emblematic resources in artistic form.

Needless to say, works by both Angelika Kauffmann (1741–1807) and Not Vital, as well as many others, can be viewed at the Bündner Kunstmuseum.