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Michael Binkley Discovers the Sondervig Sand Sculpture Festival

michael binkley sculptor stone sculpture sondervig denmark sand

I have been volunteering on the Grouse Mountain Snow Sculpting Team in Vancouver, BC, Canada for three years now, and the team captain is a retired international sand sculpture competitor. Alan Matsumoto has regaled me with stories of his work, and I have been hoping the team could do some really cool compositions, as Alan has described from his past. But he is steadfast in keeping to the themes we create for seasonal events on the Mountain and I find these to be boring.

So imagine my surprise and delight when Michelle and I came upon the International Sand Sculpture Festival in Sondervig, Denmark! We were heading to an organic farm to get some good, stinky cheese and passed a huge wall of sand right beside the roadway. After getting said cheese, we retuned and discovered that about 30 artists from around the world had created sculptures for this Festival.

The 2018 Festival theme is Wizardry and Magic. There was a massive horseshoe shaped wall of continuous sculptures by about 20 artists and each composition seamlessly blended into the other. Inside the wall were another 8 freestanding sculptures. Of note was “Sand Witch”, by Canadian artists Jonathan Bouchard and Stephane Robert    , which was a woman astride a dragon that appeared to be eating its tail. And another Canadian, Guy Beauregard who created a piece that was hollow on the inside, with peekaboo “windows” in the composition so that one could see the inner details.

Not only were the compositions beautiful and engaging, but the yellow/orange sand was a lovely complimentary colour to the rich blue sky.

Another injection of creative energy for me and a real treat as public art. Let me know what your thoughts are about these sculptures in the comments section below.

Comments: 2

  • Judy Alarie

    July 19, 2018

    Dear M2, VERY interesting! Sure puts the White Rock sand sculpture competition to shame. How magnificent! Thank you so much for sharing all this with me.. With Love, Judy

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