Summer is the Time for the U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge

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Summer is the Time for the U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge

sand sculpting

Sand Sculpting

If you were an artist specializing in sculpture, what materials would you want to work with? Most people would probably stick with clay or stone. But for the more adventurous artist, maybe snow sculpting would seem like the way to go. Snow might be fine in winter, but summer is the time for beaches, and with beaches comes sand sculpting.

No family beach vacation would be complete without a sand castle. But the sculptures created by these world-renowned artists will put your shovel and bucket creations to shame.

Susanne Ruseler
sand sculpting

Photo by Susanne Ruseler

How does someone even get into sculpting sand? Susanne Ruseler is an artist who didn’t start out planning on pursuing a path into sculpture. She got her degree in animal behavior and ecology. Now, she travels the world and makes amazing art out of sand.

I do about 15 projects per year […] in Australia , Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy.

In addition to those projects, Susanne participates in three or four competitions each year, typically in the States or Canada. But how does one go from studying the sciences to working in the arts?

It might seem like a big step from Biology but the things I loved most about my studies were the field work; observing, physical work, being inventive, being creative, being outside and working with interesting people.

There are those overlaps between Biology and Sand Sculptures, and there’s also the fact that Susanne always loved to draw and sculpt, and she has a passion for animals. Since animals continue to be one of her favorite subjects to sculpt, you can see how easy of a transition it actually was.

Photo by Susanne Ruseler

As you can imagine, a lot of attention to detail goes into each of her sculptures. But there are even more considerations to be made than just how to fashion each blade of grass.

You have to consider the kind of sand, the sand can be strong, weak, clean, dirty, fine, course. […] you just have to deal with what you get and adapt your design accordingly (not too steep for weak sand, not too many fine details in coarse sand etc).

All of that knowledge leads to some of the most amazing and remarkable detail you’d ever expect to see in sand.

Photo by Susanne Ruseler

If you’d like to see more of Susanne’s work, you can head to her Flickr page, or to her website.

And what happens when these masterpieces are done? Ashes to ashes, and sand to sand.

U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge

Once you’ve mastered the art form, what do you do? A sand sculpture probably won’t get much traction in a gallery and can’t neatly be displayed in someone’s home. To get their work shown, sand artists turn to the annual U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge.

The challenge takes place over four days in San Diego. It’s paired with an art exposition, and lots of family friendly fun. Artists from all over the world gather and battle it out for cash prizes and national pride.

Here are some of the winners from this year’s event.