Continuing on from part 1, I was staying in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast during the weekend that the 2nd Annual Australian Sand Sculpting Competition was being held. This years theme was Sand Safari, and I swear some of that sand followed me back as weeks later I found sand on my balcony – strange!

Peter Redmond has travelled Australia sculpting at festivals and shopping centres. He is also the tour guide at Victorian sand sculpting events due to his outgoing personality.

In part 1, I mentioned two of the judging criteria’s, 1) Originality and 2)Technical difficulty.

3) Theme – Has the sculpture captured this years theme Sand Safari ?

Jino emigrated from The Netherlands to Australia more than 30 years ago as a prop maker in the film industry and has since turned his skills into a successful sand sculpting career.

4) Execution – Is the peice artistic and does it tell a story. Has the sculptor succeeded in what they set out to sculpt?

Ricardo, a sand sculptor for over 10 years, has competed at competitions in both Australia and overseas. Ricardo combines his talents with his community spirit creating art programs for the elderly and those with disabilities. 

5) Use of space – Are there any large areas of open space and has the sculptor carved all the complete mound?

Peter Papamanolis is an artist and jewelry maker.

And the winner of the 2013 Australian Sand Sculpting Championships was…(drumroll…..)…..

Leo Vamvalis has worked with some of the world most talented sculptors and his work has taken him to Denmark, Belgium and Singapore.

Leo Vamvalis and his sculpture ‘Wild Memories’ took out first place at this years event and it was a well deserved win. I love the caricature of this piece, it’s wonderfully designed and carved and a great concept of the theme Sand Safari – well done Leo! 🙂

It was such nice experience wandering through this gallery of sculptures while the sculptors worked their magic with the sand, on the boardwalk with the ocean and high rise apartments as the backdrop. Oh and that sand I found on my balcony? – turns out it wasn’t sand after all, it was the remnants of my flatmates Ped-Egg after she’d given herself a pedicure – seems she’d been doing some ‘sculpting’ herself -eeeewwww!