Like his namesake on Inauguration Day, Snowman Bernie chills, in Northport

It was a weekend for Bernie lovers in Northport.

A local artist's snow-sculpted, life-size homage to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders bundled up in the Inauguration Day chill — a near-instant meme with seemingly endless photoshopped permutations — had passersby snapping and posing with it on a bench at Northport Village Park.

The snow-carved Sanders, like the real man on Jan. 20, sits socially distanced (hopefully), cross-legged and cross-wristed, "wearing" the outline of a frumpy winter coat, a real face mask, and (snow-crafted) mittens that maybe could pass for the real Fair Isle pair that set social media atwitter last month.

"He’s a classy guy. He doesn’t seem to be upset with the fact that he’s not the president. He’s showing up and showing his support, and he’s being a good sport about it, and he’s just such a character. You look at him, he’s got this cute pair of mittens on. You can’t but love the guy," said its maker, Northport artist and photographer Brandon Osman, 36. "At least I can’t help it."

The Sanders sculpture is the latest of seven pop-up, pop-culture snow sculptures that Osman has made over the past seven years since he moved back to Long Island. Each starts as a big snowball.

The meme that inspired Osman started as a news photo of Sanders that was transposed in thousands of iterations across place, space and time — next to Forrest Gump, as an astronaut walking on the moon, alone aboard the New York City subway, lounging in the mid-19th century pointillist "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat, on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, sitting on Saturn’s rings.

Now, he's sitting on a park bench in Northport.

Osman, who was raised in Huntington, later lived in Rego Park, Queens, and in 2013 moved back to Suffolk County and had two girls, now 6 and 3. He has in the past sculpted Stewie Griffin from "Family Guy," a Moai head from Easter Island, and the Baby Yoda — which on Monday Osman described as "Snowda" — his twist on the character from the "Star Wars" series "The Mandalorian."

"I have a portfolio," he punned again. "I call it my Portsnowlio."

To sculpt "Bernie," Osman spent five or six hours on Saturday morning using his hands, and kitchen utensils like spatulas and wooden spoons, in the yard of his Northport home. He twisted yarn to fashion a version of the senator's signature rectangular glasses. And the mittens? Sprinkled cinnamon (which dogs now come up and sniff).

The sculpture went viral in his neighborhood — passersby were stopping, posing for photos and yelling, "Hey, we're big supporters! We love Bernie!" — and Osman had a realization: "I need to share this with the world."

With the help of two childhood friends, and plastic garbage bags to protect the car, Osman said, "I threw him in the back of my Volkswagen Jetta sedan, and we said it’s very like the movie ‘Weekend at Bernie’s,’ where they transported a dead body in the back of the car."

He gave the snowman a hashtag: #FreezerBERN, which he also posted on his Instagram, @bmyosman.

Others have also done meme-inspired Bernie snowmen in New Haven, Connecticut; in Edmond, Oklahoma; and in Norwood, Ohio.

For Northport, Osman said, he relishes the juxtaposition of a viral moment that ricocheted around the internet with the environs of a small town.

"People don’t really have these novel moments" during the coronavirus pandemic, he said, and he wanted to bring "a magical moment" to town.

As for his views on Sanders and his politics, Osman, a property manager, first elaborated on them to a reporter, but then said that upon reflection, he’d prefer to keep them private.

But Republican, Democratic, or Democratic Socialist, there’s no escaping Mother Nature.

Just after noon Monday, Northport’s Bernie started getting wet.

"Ah, it’s raining now," Osman said. "Bernie’s not going to be very happy."

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.