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