Why these unique snow sculptures in Metro Detroit are going viral

Hannah Mackay
The Detroit News

Most people mold snowmen when a big storm hits. Not Jennifer Ramirez or Jamison Agnello.

When a storm blanketed Metro Detroit last week, both skipped a traditional project and took a bite out of something much bigger. Ramirez of Madison Heights sculpted sharks in her front yard while Agnello, who lives in Harrison Township, made a giraffe.

Ramirez, whose sharks have been shared dozens of times on social media and featured on media websites, wasn't expecting all the attention. The art teacher at Shelby Township’s Eisenhower High School said she sculpted the sharks in hopes of making people smile.

High school art teacher Jennifer Ramirez sculpted two snow sharks and an extra fin in her front yard at the corner of Edward and Katherine in Madison Heights after the winter storm on Jan. 25. She plans to add snow penguins and seals to the display if weather permits.

"We do not have enough of that in the world right now," Ramirez said.

In her sculpture, two snow sharks can be seen surfacing above Ramirez's yard at the corner of Edward and Katherine with the fin of a third also visible. She began work last Wednesday when a winter storm dropped more than 7 inches of snow in some parts of Metro Detroit.

"It was like perfect packing snow and I was super excited and so I shoveled my driveway and my neighbor's driveway," Ramirez said. "The next day I went out and separated the mounds."

The entire scene was complete by Saturday and took a total of around four hours, Ramirez said. She sprayed the sculptures with a mixture of food coloring and water to color them.

"They are still up and intact — the sun is kind of wreaking havoc on them a little bit," Ramirez said Thursday. "I try and go out and repair them every single day as soon as I get home from teaching."

Agnello's snow giraffe in Harrison Township, meanwhile, has not been so lucky.

The sculpture, which once stood taller than Agnello in his front yard, was intended as a fun activity to create with his three children. Similar to Ramirez's snow sharks, it has garnered significant attention on social media.

"The snow starts coming down and then I just start thinking okay, 'What's it going to be this year?' When I realized how great the packing snow was I thought, 'Alright, let's build something that we normally can't.' So for whatever reason, a giraffe popped into my head," Agnello said. "I was just outside playing with my kids, just something to do... and then next thing I know it's got almost 25,000 views on Facebook."

The snow giraffe adorns Jamison Agnello's lawn in Harrison Township.

Agnello started creating snow sculptures as a kid with his father and likes to continue the tradition with his own family. He has built a host of characters from snow in past winters, including Kung Fu Panda, Simba, Elsa and the Yeti.

"I have built some crazy ones over the years," Agnello said. "If we have perfect conditions... we don't let a good snow go to waste."

Agnello lives at the end of a dead-end street, so his snow sculptures were not well-known before going viral, he said.

Ramirez, meanwhile, has also been creating snow sculptures in her yard for the last 10 years, she said. She is also known for displays year-round in her neighborhood.

"When COVID hit, I started doing chalk drawings on my privacy fence... and so I started to kind of get a following in with my neighbors," Ramirez said.

If Michigan gets more snow, Ramirez has many plans for future frigid sculptures.

"If they're going to stay up, I'm going to try and do some penguins, and maybe some seals with the sharks," Ramirez said. "...If they melt then I have a different idea but I don't want to share it because I just want everybody to be surprised."

hmackay@detroitnews.com