Falcor, and a proposal: A day in the life of a weather-dependent sculptor

Brandon Osman, Northport’s resident snow sculptor, is expanding his reach. Creative director by day (and night, if need be), Osman’s snow-shaping prowess first gained full attention in February 2021, when he transported a life-sized and cross-legged Bernie Sanders, complete with Covid mask, from his home to a Northport Village park bench. In 2022, Osman went to the Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Championships in Colorado, where he and his team sculpted a 12-foot-tall wooly mammoth. He has since brought Gandalf, the protagonist wizard in J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels-turned-movies, and  E.T. to Northport and in January of last year, safely landed an unidentified alien in the Northport LIRR train station. That March, he time-lapse recorded a wickedly realistic Elphaba melt on his front lawn. 

This past Tuesday, while working on his biggest at-home snow sculpture yet – Falcor, the friendly and sociable luckdragon from the 1984 fantasy film The NeverEnding Story – Osman received a call requesting his first-ever commission: a proposal made of snow. 

He was surprised, but excited, by the opportunity. “I don’t do this for money,” Osman told the Journal on his drive home from Brooklyn yesterday evening. “This isn’t something I would think people would pay for.” The father of two has been making snow sculptures since he was a child himself and now uses his skills to sculpt characters that both pay tribute to the nostalgia of his youth and can be enjoyed by his daughters. 

This latest blast of snow provided so much material that Osman was able to simply snowblow all the perfectly packable powder to the center of his driveway, where a big tree stands. “I made a huge snow pile and sculpted [Falcor] from there,” he said. 

While Osman has been hoping for a while to celebrate The NeverEnding Story, “a lot of time I just look at the snow and let it tell me what to do,” he said. “All of a sudden it just came to me.” Falcor emerged, his iconic expression and bright eyes (made by layering black and brown spray paint with chips of snow as glossy white accents) intact. 

Less than 24 hours after completing Falcor, Osman was on his way to Brooklyn for the commission, for which he was tasked with sculpting a proposal out of snow in a Flatbush backyard. “The snow packed so perfectly,” Osman said. “It just happened to be perfect weather and perfect timing,” something necessary with such an ephemeral creation. A “MARRY ME” background, made of recessed letters, was paired with a traditional snowman, on bended knee and with a ring box in hand, proposing to an elated snowwoman. It was fitting: the snow scene highlighted the beauty of the present moment – she said “yes,” by the way.  

The proposal took Osman six hours to create. By 5:30pm, he was heading home to pick up his daughter from dance, then work a full night shift as creative director. “I’ve always found that I do my best work when the clock is ticking; I love a challenge with a hard deadline because it forces you to stop overthinking and just get into that creative flow,” he said. “I don’t strive for perfection, I strive for the ‘wow’ moment. Since we only get a handful of snow days a year, I go all in while I can. It’s definitely hectic but seeing the sculpture come together is incredibly rewarding for me plus, the spike in new followers and engagement it brings to my page is a great bonus that makes all the snow lifting worth it.”

You can follow Osman and his snow sculptures at @osman_snow_sculptures.