Beach Art

 

 

Every Sunday another lesser known artform is presented through this 'Wild Art'-series in which artists venture off the beaten path.
 

Tomorrow summer begins!

What better way to celebrate this than to introduce you to 'beach art'?

 

 

The name of this artform might evoke images of sand castles.

But that's not what we're talking about today.

Is your curiosity sparked yet?

You'll be blown away by the many wonderful creations!

 

The first time I heard of 'beach art' was thanks to the book Wild Art.

Three artists are named: Andres Amador, Peter Donnelly and Jim Denevan.

Looking them up on Youtube gives you lots of beautiful footage.

A selection:

 

Andres Amador is an American artist whose sand drawings are absolutely amazing! 

You can see many different examples in following movie (5 min) which I find one of the best introductions to what beach art actually is.

The explanation of the philosophy behind it and the feeling it generates really makes you want to try this for yourself 😄

If you want to check out more footage of this artist, you can take a look at his Youtube-channel here.

 


 

In New Zealand Peter Donnelly makes beautiful artwork at New Brighton Beach, near Christchurch.

Watch the Sand Dancer at work (10 min):

 


 

Jim Denevan is another fantastic American artist.

A short introduction to his incredible beach art:

 

 

But the beach isn't the only canvas of this versatile artist.
If you want to check out his work in the Nevada desert you can take a look here.

The amazing result of his art on Siberia's Lake Baikal can be watched here.

The latter is a beautiful example of the fact that not only sand but snow as well can serve as material for an earthscape artist. We'll come back to that another time. Back to the sand now!

 

Only the aforementioned three names figure in the book. But during my search on the internet I found out that there's a whole world out there full of extremely talented sand artists!

Although it's impossible to discuss them all, what struck me is that this artform isn't only performed in other continents where the weather is hot and the beaches exotic.

European beaches also form the canvasses for several artists. Let's explore some of them!

 

In Cornwall (UK) there are several sand artists at work.

You can read more about Tony Plant, Chris Howarth, Jonathan Barnes and Ed(mond) Stanbury here.


A compilation of his works by Ed Stanbury:

 

 

And interview with him can be read here.

 

And also in other parts of the UK you can discover talented artists.
Jon Foreman (Dymchurch, Kent), Simon Beck (Brean Beach, Somerset), ... just to name a few.
Click on their names to watch them at work and see their creations.

 

Last but not least, it must be said that our neighbours in The Netherlands are so extremely lucky!
In Zandvoort there's the collective 'Dutch Beach Art' which consists of Tim Hoekstra and Ed Waterman (what's in a name).

Actually it was Tim Hoekstra who started making beach art 10 years ago. One day his neighbour Ed Waterman saw him busy and wanted to do the same. That's how their cooperation started. A small Dutch article tells more about them here.
When I ever go to Zandvoort again, I'll make sure to go and take a look at the beach to see if they're creating something!

In the meantime there are a few videos to watch on their Youtube-channel here.

Sit back and enjoy the magnificent creations of Dutch Beach Art!

 


 


2 comments:

  1. Up next in our series "things I have never heard of before in my life": sand drawings you have to see to believe. And I get the philosophy of Andres Amador: nothing is forever, so why not let the tide steal your work of art? But frankly, I could never bring myself to create something stunning like that only to see it being washed away mere hours later. And Peter Donnelly telling us he has made 548 of those? And he even witnessed how a nutcase destroyed one of his works without putting his rake or stick to good use on the guy? Crazy. Man is a peculiar and at times fascinating animal.
    Good stuff, Tau, keep 'em coming.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your reaction is so recognizable, Bohse, as it was the first thing I thought too: "What an immense work to simply let it wash away by the sea just a few hours later!"
      But now I truly understand it. No kidding.
      Especially when it gets filmed by a drone. Because that way you can still enjoy the work after it's gone.
      Actually it's like the stars. Some of them are still visible while they're gone since long.
      And like people who passed away or disappeared out of our lives. Their words and pictures are memories by which they leave their footprints in the sand of our heart.

      In the meantime Peter Donnelly has made a lot more of these artworks.
      As you can learn here, he already made more than 697 sand drawings in 9 years:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttwxawO0ESc
      And that was in 2009 ...
      Imagine how many he made after that!

      So much stuff I still want to show you.
      The articles will be written as soon as possible, so they can be planned for the next couple of months.
      Even if I'm not around, they will appear and maybe inspire people 😉

      Delete