Sand Arts Festival 2014: Welcome to the arena
Written by Elisha Frazer
Photos by Sami Woolhiser
Concept design for Sculpture Forum’s wind sculpture.
Get your buckets and shovels ready! The Sand Arts Festival is here again.
Every year on Tybee Island, SCAD students, alumni, staff and faculty are given the opportunity to show off their sculpting skills. In commemoration of this timeless art form, the SCAD Sculpture Forum has organized teams to compete for the festival.
Sculpture Forum is a club with a purpose to “expand opportunities for students interested in the research and practice of sculptural processes,” according to club president and fourth year painting major and sculpture minor Sami Lee Woolhiser from San Francisco, California.
Because the students in Sculpture Forum focus primarily on three-dimensional forms, they did not hesitate to plan for the event. There are four individual categories in the competition: sand castle, sand sculpture, sand relief and wind sculpture. Woolhiser and her team have plans to take over the competition with their preplanned designs.
“We want to explore as many of the categories as possible this year, especially taking advantage of the wind sculpture section as well as the new awards [like] the SCAD castles award,” said Woolhiser. “We hope to commemorate Boundary Hall as well as Poetter Hall.”
Charles Schaefer and Mitch Biggio, Sculpture Forum members. Charles and Mitch are building the skeleton structure that will support the kinetic elements that will be attached later.
Woolhiser said they started their process weeks before the event in order to be at performance level at the festival. To cover all their bases, it was evident that the group was going to have to separate.
“We split our club into several teams based on general interest,” said Woolhiser. “We have been working on designs, the structure and concept of our wind sculpture for two weeks now.” Since this design defies gravity, it was essential to create a supportive frame for the design.
Macie Hart, a second-year sculpture major from Pembroke Pines, Florida, will be taking on another category from the contest: the relief sculpture portion.
“Our idea is a relief sculpture of a man who is sucked in a hole on the beach and encounters an octopus,” said Hart. “We researched our idea, extensively traded ideas and sketches and complied all of the tools of the trade, buckets, shovels—all that jazz.”
The Sculpture Forum is not only in it for the cash prize and to show off their skills, but they are also using the event to keep the Sculpture program prevalent at SCAD.
“We hope to win some money for the club to fund our future exhibitions, workshops and visiting artists,” Woolhiser said.
Mitch Biggio in studio modifying the skeleton structure for the Sand Arts Festival.
“And,” Hart added, “representing the sculpture program is more important now than ever because of the talk and notions to get rid of the sculpture minor at the Savannah campus.”
Needless to say, Sculpture Forum is proud of the work they do, and hope to continue to inspire others to take advantage of the program even after the Sand Arts Festival. With this club ready to get their hands dirty, they have some advice for everyone else planning to attend.
“Come prepared!” said Sami. “Make sure to pack a few hand shovels, buckets, spray bottles, sunscreen and water! It is also a good idea to prepare sketches and to research the categories; some are more popular than others.”
