Three materials - sand sculpture
Working with beach sand can be very hit or miss. The grains have been eroded by the sea over millennia making smooth tiny rocks which don't really want to be together and will find every opportunity to obey Newtons laws of gravity. Like working in all Materials, over the years you get an idea of what will be possible and choose the right material for the job or change your idea to suit the material.
What has that to do with this sculpture? well nothing really but I had to write something in my opening paragraph.
But this sculpture was about materials and was created by @stijgerart , Fergus Mulvany and myself in the Italian resort of Cervia in 2000. The location was a Volleyball court on the sea front and many people would sit there to ages watching the sculptures take shape. I felt like we were gladiators... or performing monkeys.
Together but seperate
As sculptors we like to experiment and with this sculpture we hit on the idea that we would each choose a material and have them interweaving but not touching. In the center there were a series of complex arches as each structure ran from on side to the other. Fergus made metal, Wilfred ( @stijgerart ) wood and me water. The sand was very clean and we could really goof off on textures.
Let's face it
Each of us made a face on one side transitioning accross to the other were it became a spirally play on form. For water I had a every deep sink hole with no view of the bottom. The audience was very curious as to where it went and I loved watching them nearly fall in as they tried to see.
Oh yes, now I remember what my opening paragraph was about. Beach sand is not the most ideal material to make complex forms like this and water is better made with a material like, oh, I don't know, something wet. Very soon after we finished the piece it began to rot, rust and drain away down the plug hole I made. Damn Newton and his laws.
Ps
Thanks for reading and for proving that Steemit is not yet just for bots. I have been very busy lately setting up a new workshop/ lab so haven't been able to write that much. It is all very exciting and I'm looking forward to be making many new posts about my antics there.
Below are some of my previous posts.
Africa - sand sculpture
Frankenlightstein
More skip diving
I hope you'll join me again soon.
@ammonite
When was this? And where? It looks really great @ammonite. Thanks for sharing. I've never seen a sand sculpture like this until now. Usually they are very classic or realistic, but not to this level of abstraction and intricacy. Really grateful for people like you with such an amazing talent.
Thank you, I've been working with sand for over twenty years and really enjoy to try and not make traditional sculptures. It is a great material for experimenting with and very fast to see your ideas realised. Also the fact that it doesn't last forever means you can be much more playful. With my posts here on steemit I am documenting all of my sculptures working my way through the years. This one is from 2000 and there are alot more to come as well as my ice and snow sculptures. Thanks again for commenting.
Yes, I can tell that you are very experienced with sand sculptures @ammonite. I love that your are documenting and also sharing your work with us, such an honor and a privilege. This way, it will never get lost thanks to the blockchain. How do you deal with the ephemeral nature of your sculpting material? Was there ever a sculpture that you wanted to preserve for longer than usual? I'm curious.
The ephemerality is one of the things that attracts me to working in materials like sand. Knowing my work can not be owned except in the eye and mind of beholder is very liberating. Once I finish a sculpture it is like all of the creative energy is in the piece and I can somehow disconnect from it. There have been one or two sculptures that I would have liked to keep but in general I can only see the mistakes I made. That said, I have experimented with taking molds and also used elements of some in other more permanent sculptures. Thanks for you question.
Oh interesting @ammonite. Yes, I think a lot of artists ponder on the opposition of creation/destruction and permanence and impermanence. I really love ephemeral art, sustainable art and the duality of creation/destruction. I find that the artists I admire the most do this kind of artwork. Art is all about how we experience it and I love that. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.
Nothing lasts forever and at least with this kind of work i know when it will be gone, Thank you again .I am always happy to interact in the comments of my posts.
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