Each year our church hosts a special festival on our parking lot. Members of our congregation and the community gather for an enjoyable afternoon of a children's musical production, food, a car show and lots of visiting. The entire event, however, is centered around the biggest component, which is the creation of a giant sand sculpture. Watching the sculptor, Dan Belcher, is such a treat! He is a landscape architect who practices urban design in St. Louis, but he is also a professional sand sculptor. Each summer he delights everyone in our town by converting two dump truck loads of sand into an amazing work of art. This is what he finished Saturday at what we call our annual "Sandman Festival".
We always marvel at the detail!
This buffalo towers over visitors and each year the sculpture is not only different from our previous festivals, but a surprise. He begins the proceeding Wednesday when the sand is dumped in the lot and the creation starts to take form. He's done projects throughout North America, Australia, Japan, Italy and the Middle East. Not surprisingly, he has won competitions over the years.
This is the face, head-on, with the mountains to our left. See his ears and eyes? How can Dan possibly make those curls to represent the fur of these powerful and majestic animals?
The following is an excerpt from the Sandman Festival flyer, penned by our pastor:
Then the Great Sculptor shapes and molds us, step by step, into what we were created to be...something wonderful, even better than a buffalo.
Then the Great Sculptor shapes and molds us, step by step, into what we were created to be...something wonderful, even better than a buffalo.