Out of the blue in 1999 I got a phone call from a man living in the picturesque seaside village of Duncannon asking would I and my friend Fergus come down and do a little sand sculpture on their beach as part of a small cockel shell festival. ( wow, that was a longer sentence than i wanted!). Brendan Power had meet another sculptor while on holidays in Italy and noticed the sand that he was using was very similar to that of Duncannon. Fergus and myself were happy to go down for the weekend and so started a yearly sand sculpture exhibition.
We began carving on a Friday and were making good progress for a Sunday finish. Then on Saturday night, probably as the local bar was clearing the sculpture was completely destroyed by some blaggards.
Sinking feeling
Having your work broken down by someone is a pain. I really like to see something finished and then I don't really care what happens to it. It is a strange sense of loss when a creative process is cut short, especially when it is caused by someone else.
The mentality of vandals is something I just don't get. Maybe it is a creativity endeavor in their eyes, or they are like some sort of animal pissing on a corner to say this is my territory ' I WAZ EER'. If their are any vandals reading this please enlighten me. Well in the heel of the hunt we were left sculpturless and the festival had nothing to show for their asking us to be there.
As is best to do in these situations we got straight to work and threw this together in the few hours we had left. The original piece was much higher obviously but we did try to keep the same theme of a shipwreck and one figure trying to pull his fellow shipmate from the waves.
Not the best result in the end but It was the start of a great relationship with the little village that has grown to be a full fledged sand festival with lots of different events happening on the beach hail or shine.
By Hook or by Crooke
Duncannon is a small fishing village and the seas around it have claimed many lives. From the Spanish Armada to countless fishermen. This area is so dangerous for boats they have the oldest lighthouse in the world at the mouth of the estuary called the Hook and across the other side of the water is Crooke. So now you know where that saying came from.
Duncannon Fort has also been in use for centuries protecting Ireland from Normans, the Spanish and even Nazis.
The sand on the beach is really nice to carve because the silt the river brings down and deposits here.
I invite your to check out the satellite view on the Steemitworld map at the end of this post to to see how beautiful this area is.
The image below I think sums up the place quite well. The tides here are quite something and the fishermen sometimes use the beach as a dry dock.
Ps
Thanks for reading and as I said above I would real like to hear from vandals. Have your ever broken anything just for the sake of it or for the laugh. I Would love some insight. Don't worry I won't judge you.. ye fecker.
Below you can check out some of my recent post.
Roman Empire - sand sculpture
Hup Holland Hup - sand sculpture
Animated Gif - Steepshot
I hope you'll join me again soon.
@ammonite