Last weekend, Ron and I went to Clearwater Beach to see the Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival. Clearwater Beach is known for its sparkling, soft, white sand, but when Hurricane Helen barreled through last September, it pushed mountains of sand all over the island. Before the sand could be returned to the beach, it had to go through the arduous process of separating, sifting and cleaning. Now six months later, it was back where it belonged, just in time for the annual sand sculpting event.
The Sugar Sand Festival is a 17-day sand sculpting competition celebrating Clearwater Beach’s soft, white sand. I’ve gone to the festival five times now and every year is different. This year’s theme was “Blast from the Past.” It was a nostalgic look at the pop culture icons of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, all carved out of sand.
Since I grew up in the 80s, I especially liked the sculptures of Michael Jackson, the space shuttle and Pac Man. Another of my favorite sculptures (from the 90s section) was of the Simpson family sitting their couch with the characters from Toy Story. To add to the mood, there was background music playing for each decade, from “Mr. Sandman” to “Staying Alive” to the theme song from Seinfeld.
Since it was too chilly for boating last weekend, Ron and I decided to head to St Petersburg to visit the Chihuly Collection at the Morean Arts Center. I loved Dale Chihuly’s beautiful glass sculptures at the Bellagio in Las Vegas and in the Bahamas, so I was excited about seeing an entire exhibition of his works.
Our tickets to the Morean Arts Center included a glass blowing demonstration at the Morean Glass Studio. We got to the studio just in time for the first demonstration at 1 o’clock. Our glass blowers, or gaffers, were Anjali and Dan. While Dan narrated, Anjali layered glass that had been heated to 2100 degrees (in furnaces named Puff and Toothless) onto the end of a pipe and blew into the pipe to create a hollow ball. At first the glass was so hot that it was bright orange, but as it cooled, the blue color started to appear. Slowly, Anjali transformed the ball of glass into a cylindrical vase. Then Dan added smaller pieces of glass, which Anjali shaped into decorative leaves and a base. Finally, the vase was transferred to another rod so that Anjali could widen and shape its mouth. It was amazing to watch her swing and spin the rod, using gravity and centrifugal force to create the scalloped edges of the vase. The finished piece was placed in an annealing oven to cool to room temperature.
On Saturday, Ron and I went to Treasure Island for the Sanding Ovations sand sculpting festival. I love art displays with a theme, something that ties everything together. This year’s theme, “Once Upon a Time”, seemed to have brought out the best in the artists. There was so much creativity and humor. The Rapunzel sculpture was titled “Hair Extensions” and showed Prince Charming lying on ground holding up a long braid. In the Goldilocks and the Three Bears sculpture, the bear family finds Goldilocks passed out on their beach chair after drinking all their beer. Because of the way the sculptures were laid out on the beach, you could view the details on all sides. I especially liked the back of the Three Bears sculpture, with Mama Bear’s thong and Papa Bear’s butt crack. These fairy tales creations did not look anything like the ones in my childhood story books. :-) The highlight of the exhibit was an enormous castle, made with 80 tons of sand, that all ten of the master sculptors had worked on together.
You may have heard of Winter, Clearwater’s famous bottlenose dolphin, from the movie Dolphin Tail, but did you know that Clearwater is also home to a “pod” of colorful dolphin sculptures called the Dolphin Trail? Clearwater’s Dolphin Trail, a group project between the City of Clearwater and the Clearwater Regional Chamber, began in 2012 with 50 sculptures decorated by local artists to showcase the area’s history, wildlife and attractions. Since then, the trail has grown to include over 100 dolphins and has expanded to neighboring cities from Tarpon Springs to Saint Petersburg.
On Sunday, Ron and I drove to Clearwater Beach for the Sugar Sand Festival, a beach party celebrating Clearwater’s famous soft, white sand. For the 17-day festival, master sand sculptors carved amazing works of art using nothing but sand, water and simple tools. This was the fourth time we've gone to the festival, and I thought it was the best one yet. This year's theme was “SANDimals, an Animal Adventure”. There were animals representing every letter of the alphabet, from aardvark to zebra, and even a few fictional creatures like the yeti and Chewbacca the Wookiee. Each sculpture had so much character and detail. While we were at the exhibit, several of the sculptors were carving individual pieces for a competition to raise money for local schools, so we got to watch their artwork come to life.
"Art can be anything."
Nathan Sawaya
 |
| "The Gate to China" |
