During a snowstorm in January 1885, Wilson ”Snowflake” Bentley, a Vermont farmer turned scientist, is said to have become the first person to photograph a single snow crystal—more commonly known as a snowflake.
“Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others,” Bentley said in 1925. “Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind.”
His life story is the subject of “The Snowflake Man,” a show featuring Czech-style marionettes, miniatures, pop-up paper art, music and live storytelling by Sarah Frechette of PuppetKabob at Puppet Showplace Theater in Brookline from March 8 to 11.
“As a Vermonter, I’m very prideful of my state. My grandfather when he passed, he had three snowflakes by ‘Snowflake’ Bentley that he purchased as a boy,” says Frechette, who resides in Georgia, Vermont—along Lake Champlain, up near the Canadian border—and Portland, Oregon. She developed the show with her “partner in art and love” Jason Thibodeaux.
Frechette arrives on stage dressed as a 1920s flapper and carrying suitcases full of puppets and a large pop-up book of sets (painted by Vermont artist Bruce Lee). She tells Bentley’s story via Czech-style marionettes—rigged with rods from above plus strings attached to create detailed movements.
“I shrink down and become one of the puppet figures,” Frechette says. “I use puppetry to time travel.”
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“Snowflake” Bentley grew up on a small farm with perhaps 10 cows in Jericho, Vermont, about a half hour drive from Burlington today. He was entranced by science, studying the natural world with a microscope his former school teacher mother had.
Snowflakes became his favorite subject to study up close. At first, he tried drawing what he saw, but he was unsatisfied with his efforts to copy down the dazzlingly intricate patterns. So he asked his parents to buy him a camera.
“They spent everything in their savings,” Frechette says. “They took a real chance. After three winters of standing outside in the show, he finally figured out how to configure a microscope and a camera to get a clear image of a snow crystal.”
Part of Bentley’s challenge was to figure out how to record the snowflakes before they melted. He devised a method in which he would let snow fall on black velvet on a tray, then transfer the snowflakes onto a cooled glass slide to place under his viewer. He would photograph more than 5,000 snowflakes during his life.
“He coined the phrase that no two snowflakes are alike,” Frechette says. “And it seems to be true.”
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