Sand art is the making different artistic shapes through sand modelling. It is the formation of pictures, different creations and images by use of sand and water. It has a long history with different cultural elements and involves different techniques and materials. The essay attempts to discuss the sand art and its different perspective with a view to understanding the phenomenon of sand art.
As per the information provided in the Sand Gallery (2014, p.2), history of sand art dates back to the early twentieth century when it originated in the Jordanian City of Petra. It was inspired by the availability of multi-coloured sand and small rocks found in the mountainous area of Petra. During late 1940s, camel inspired artistic designs got popularity. Sand art paintings are known to be the part of a largest North American Indian tribe called Navajo tribe. Navajo people termed the origin of sand art in the myth of holy people inhabited in the underworld. Navajo tribe uses sand art for variety of healing and ceremonial activities in accordance with their beliefs (Bortz, 2008, p.3). There are other popular forms of sand paintings that are culturally inspired. It includes the aboriginal ground art and Tibetan Buddhist sand Mandala.
Sand art is based on two basic ingredients of sand and water that is available in abundance on the beach. It is the cheapest joy time activity performed by the people mostly children at the beach or in sandy areas. The height and structure of the sand art is sometimes limited due to size of grain of the sand. At places like tidal beaches, the height and structure of the sand art creations is limited due to bigger size of the grain of the sand. Sand that makes good sculpture is generally not pure sand and has silt and clay mixed in it. Due to the presence of clay and silt, it has more cohesive power and makes good shapes with good height. Children generally make sand castle as a fun activity. There are competitions between the adults worldwide that involves making huge and complex sand structures. The largest sand sculpture created by the sand artists can be as tall as 15 feet. Sand of fine quality sticks together when appropriate amount of water is used in the combination. Buckets and shovel are major construction tools used by the sand artists.
Sand art has three major categories called sand art painting, sculpture sand art and bottled sand art. There is also a type called sand castle that the making of sand sculptures in the miniature form of a bigger building. Bottled sand art is performed by the adults and young children. It involves the mixing of sand with food colours or powder paint in order to create different shades. The mixture is then poured into the different size and shapes of bottles that forms beautiful designs and colourful multi-layers. It is then used for decoration purpose. There exist many companies that manufacture sand art bottles such as wine bottles, plastic bottles and different types of jars. Sculpture sand art is use of sand and water for creation any shape that the maker desires to create. It is normally used to create fancy images of mythical sea creatures. The sand sculpture art also takes the forms of plants, human beings and castles (Ernestina Boadi, 2014, p.1-3).
Sand art may sound like something created with useless sand and water, and created mostly by children; however, it has the ability to convey different intended messages. It also needs a lot of expertise and patience to build sophisticated structures as a joy time activity. The competitions held worldwide help in highlighting the talent at the international level. Record registration in the Guinness book of world record has given the sand artist an incentive for projection of their talent at the international level.
References
Sand Art Gallery. (2014). What is Sand Art? [online] Available at: http://sandgallery.com/.> [Accessed 30 September 2014].
Ernestina Boadi. (2014). The History of Sand Art.[online] Available at: http://www.ehow.com/about_6622596_history-sand-art.html> [Accessed 30 September 2014].
Mary Bortz. (2008). Glass Jar Sand Art inspired by Navajo sand painting. [pdf]. Available at: http://www.sargentart.com/sa/download/lessonplan/K-4/GlassJarSandArt.pdf> [Accessed 30 September 2014].
