Diana Kesselschmidt makes magic at Bryant Park winter ice rink with CHAUVET Professional

Diana Kesselschmidt is creating a captivating setting at the Winter Village at Bryant Park this season with a richly coloured lighting design at the popular attraction’s 17,000 sq ft ice skating rink. Seen from one of the skyscrapers around the park, the rink glitters like colourful gem.

PRG supplied over 100 CHAUVET Professional fixtures, including 95 COLORado 2-Quad Zoom LED Wash lights, and eight Ovation E-260WW ellipsoidal, units for this transformative display.

“In addition to performance, weather resistance was key to selecting fixtures,” said Kesselschmidt, of Diana K studio. “The fixtures are out for an extended time in New York City.  Also, all the cabling to the towers gets loaded in about a month ahead of time, before the deck is put in, so there is no access to those cables once the deck is in place. Some years we focus outdoors during a hurricane. Many years I have focused on full weather gear with laminated magic sheets.

“This year, things went smoothly, not only because of the weather and lighting fixtures, but also thanks to our great team, including Dan Fishman of Bryant Park’s Urban Management, Keith Romaine of PRG, and David Favorita the Production Electrician, as well as our electricians Yuriy Nayer and Brendan Quigley.”

Kesselschmidt used her Ovation ellipsoidal fixtures for projecting the snowflake gobos that decorated the ice rink around its perimeter enhancing its seasonal image. The 2-Quad Zoom fixtures were used to colourise the ice rink and an area called “The Overlook,” where public and private events are held.

Among Kessleschmidt’s favourite things about this project is the chance it gives her to transform the ice rink with different colours. There are six different colourised looks at the venue based on the night of the week. In addition, there some override buttons to change things up for special occasions. “I particularly love this year’s Wednesday night colour, and when we override and use ‘80s night look,” said Kesselschmidt.

The ‘80s night gives visitors a chance to travel back in time, providing them with a delightful escape. But anyone can feel this kind of magic any night as they glide across the ice in the middle of Manhattan.