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Texas SandFest Sculpture Winners Are Mind-Bogglingly Good

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Tony Maples Photography

 

From Friday April 21st to the 23rd, Texas SandFest was held in Port Aransas, Texas. According to their website, a $10 wristband welcomed guests to check out food vendors, live music, and unbelievable sand sculptures created by experienced and new artists.

The first place prize in the 2017 contest went to Joris Kivits of the Netherlands for “Sketch Book” a detailed piece that somehow stood soundly despite the negative space used in the depiction of the face. Second place and People’s Choice went to John Gowdy for “The Cat Did It,” and first place in the duo competition was received by Wilfred Stijger and Edith van de Wetering for “Kids are Sweet Little Monsters, Especially When They are Asleep.”

The website SandScapes.com can help those who are interested to learn the techniques and tricks of working with sand as a sculpting medium. The guide says that “finer sands and angular grained sands are best” and to check a local tide chart before you start building a sculpture, so it won’t get washed away with the waves. Artists can use a “volcano method”, “hand pack” or “casting bucket” to start building the shape of their project before sculpting out details from the top down using “spoons, spatulas, melon ballers, pallet knives, clay loops” and other tools.

The sand artists put in a lot of work and planning into their pieces that only exist for a few days at most. Check out more photos of the sculptures here.

#TexasSandfest #sandfest2017

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