SCAD students broke out their sunscreen, shades and shovels on Tybee Island for this year’s Sand Arts Festival. The free event allowed students to reserve a space to create a sand sculpture and compete for prizes. Similar to the SCAD Sidewalk Arts Festival, the Sand Arts event drew in locals from Savannah, Tybee Island, and Atlanta to watch students’ sand sculptures come to life.
Students had the freedom to choose what they wanted to sculpt and could work in groups or on their own. Many chose to make iconic beach symbols like mermaids, starfish and castles. One group of Savannah students even made a sculpture of SCAD’s mascot Art the Bee dressed as a mermaid. Several students, however, sought to create a meaningful statement at the festival.
Vivianne Rivas (she/they) from the Atlanta campus has spoken on behalf of her team. “My teammates Chris, Shirley and I really wanted to do something in the spirit of women, and so we decided to hone in on what the current topic was – which is Roe v. Wade,” she says. “We ended up having Shirley lay in the sand while we made a silhouette of her and sculpted a body out with a uterus as her head. We then added some touches like a heart on her chest and poured some water in the groin area to simulate menstruation, which was cool because the sand created a literal drip effect that was pretty spot on to blood. I thought that was quite symbolic, as there will be blood on these justices’ hands if Roe v. Wade is overturned”.
Making sandcastles as a kid meant running back and forth to the shore and the soft sand with a bright plastic bucket. However, in a larger-scale competition, the process looks a bit different. Rivas, a student from the Atlanta campus continues on her process, “Working with the sand was actually a tiny bit challenging at first but once we got the hang of molding the wet sand, the process became faster and easier.” Many group students create various roles for each other to fill, one person would get water and someone else would sculpt. “We worked quickly with a little pipeline we had going – I went to fill our giant bucket with water while Shirley sculpted and Chris built the sand up; it was wonderful,” she continues.
The festival will commence again next year in May and welcomes all students to participate and is open for viewing to the general public.
