Family told to cover snow Venus de Milo

RAHWAY, N.J., March 3 (UPI) -- A New Jersey family said a police officer asked them to cover up portions of their snow sculpture -- a nude tribute to the Venus de Milo.

Rahway police Sgt. Dominick Sforza said an officer visited the home of Elisa Gonzalez, who built the snow sculpture with daughter Maria Conneran, 21, and son Jack Shearing, 12, last week on an anonymous complaint "of a naked snow woman," The (Newark) New Jersey Star-Ledger reported Wednesday.

Gonzalez said the officer told the family he appreciated the armless replica of the ancient Greek statue.

"He said, 'It's very good,'" Gonzalez said.

However, she said the officer asked the family to put clothes on the sculpture. Gonzalez said they put a green bikini top and a blue sarong on Venus.

"I thought she looked more objectified and sexualized after you put the bikini on," Gonzalez said.

"(Our snow lady) looks like marble. It looks like a statue," Conneran said. "Are you going to go to the Met (New York Metropolitan Museum of Art) and cover up all the statues?"

Gonzalez said she and her children took down the snow lady Monday because of the melting snow.