Nelsonville will host the "Fire and Ice Festival" for Final Friday on the Square, January 31, 2014 from 5 - 9 p.m.  On the final Friday of every month, the Nelsonville Historic Square galleries and retail shops stay open late to feature local art events.

For the first Final Friday of 2014, the Hocking College Culinary Arts program will again present Master Ice Carver Paul Ahrens, from Precise Ice Creations. Ahrens, Culinary Arts and Art students will carve blocks of ice located throughout the square weighing a total of 6,000 pounds or three tons of ice.  

Other "Fire and Ice" themed activities, including Bananas Foster flambé made on an ice table, will be ongoing throughout the square.  Complementary coffee, hot cocoa and fresh baked cookies will also be served. Culinary Students will offer big bowls of home-style chili, bean soup, vegetable soup and fresh warm bread for $2.00 in the Hocking College Art Gallery.

Final Friday will also include the kick-off of the ninth annual Hocking College Glass Invitational and first Ceramics Invitational. The Hocking College Art Gallery will host the Glass and Ceramics Invitational exhibition opening reception from 5 - 9 p.m. on January 31. The exhibition runs January 31 through March 14, 2014. The closing reception will be February 28 from 5 - 9 p.m.

Glass artists featured in the exhibition are Trey Snowden III, Kent State University graduate student; Emma Peterson, Kent State University graduate student; Andrew Newbold, artist in residence at The Works, Newark, OH; Angelina Moneir, recent graduate of Columbus College of Art and Design; and Jacci Delaney, Ohio State University graduate student.

Ceramic artists are Bonilyn Parker, Ohio University graduate student; Amy Douglas, Athens High School art teacher; Gwendolyn Yoppolo, current Ohio State University and former Ohio University teacher; Tom Bartel, Ohio University ceramics department chair; and Brad Schwieger, Ohio University ceramics professor.

Rhapsody, the Hocking College student-run fine dining restaurant located at 18 Public Square, is also taking reservations for the evening. The special "Fire and Ice" menu includes crab cakes with chipotle aioli, Alaskan king crab legs with drawn butter, Lake Erie walleye with remoulade, carved Ohio Proud boneless rib roast with creamy horseradish sauce plus baked Alaska and Irish coffees. Contact Rhapsody at 740.753.5741 for reservations.