In 2009 I had this idea floating around in my head that I wanted to make a documentary about sand sculpture and so I put a lot of work into making a proposal looking for funding from the Irish film board. The concept was that I would travel to different countries and work with the best sand sculptors I knew to learn their techniques while creating a piece along with them. I would follow their lead and become just a conduit for their ideas and process. I had chosen 5 of the most diverse and talented artist I knew and I would, like some sort of AI use them to create an super sculptor in me, a sculptor that would be the product of all I learned while not letting my own artistic vision have it's say.
Then I would use all that I had learned from them to create a piece during the 2010 Dublin castle sand sculpture exhibition.
As a documentary I thought it had all the bells and whistles, Travel, learning, no sure outcome and would introduce a new audience to sand sculpture but alas, like all funding that comes from the these organisations the money went to safe bets and those how didn't mind doing a bit of Harvey Winsteining.
I still have the proposal and maybe one day when my ship comes in I'll make it.
Testing, testing, 1 2, 1 2
With this documentary in mind I used this sculpture as an opportunity to test out my idea of becoming the Blank Slate Sculptor. I was teamed up with Martijn Smits (who I didn't really know at the time but respected his work) to create this piece which was a filler sculpture in this project. It was very thin wall of ice that separated one scene from another and we were called on to turn it into something.
It be an interesting experiment to just do and follow exactly what Martijn suggested. Of course for the sake of the experiment he could not know so I tried to become the most amicable and helpful teammate the world has ever seen.
The ice wall was to work with a large Gulliver sculpture on one side and a pirate scene on the other. The whole project was about famous books and my last post about Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was also made here in Roermond, Holland.
Martijn has very much his own way of working and I learned a lot from him. He always thinks of the big picture and the little details are just a means to an end. I learned from working with him that he also loved to work with wood and carpentry, which is something I also love and his approach is informed by that, less carving and more constructing.
Step by step
He also loves to take it step by step and only think of the next step at a time. Similar again to me. He also loves to talk and discuss what we will do for much longer than it actually takes to do it. All this for me took some getting used to but I was willing to get fully absorbed in his process. I now and again gave a few of my own ideas but always went with his as the final idea.
To this end we created a very simple piece that had all his vision and I was happy to be there to watch and help him pull it together. We cut the wall of ice into a simple silhouette and then used white ice like a mosiac cut in small bits and blocks to build out the detail. The white ice was like a monochrome Spanish crazy tiling and it really suited the subject matter.
Martijn and I have became good friends. After this project and he chose me to come with him to help build the snow Hotel in Davos which we still do each year. I love his approach to sculpture and although it can be very rough around the edges it always gives an interesting atmosphere.
Mad scientist
Years later I told him of my experiment with him and he nearly killed me. He didn't like that I treated him as a guinea pig. He thought I was playing with him and in truth I was but I still think that since nobody was hurt by my actions and we both got a good friendship out of it, it was a harmless experiment.
I would love to hear what you think. Was what I did unethical, experimenting as I did or, do you think it is an interesting idea that I should investigate further?
Ps
Thanks for reading. I use PeakD to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor of sand, snow and ice, amongst other things. This will hopefully give it a new life on the Hive Blockchain. Below you will find some of my recent posts.
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - ice sculpture
Make a wish Astronaut - sand sculpture
Tag Rugby - sand sculpture
I hope you'll join me again soon
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