PORT ANGELES — The suspense. The sunshine. The suppers. The tons upon tons of impermanence.
Beach Master Bert Adams loves it all, at competitions across the continent — and in Port Angeles, home of the Windermere Sand Sculpture Classic all weekend.
Like his fellow sand sculptors working with this year’s “Hollywood” theme, Adams is mum on what exactly he’ll make out of all that grit.
People will just have to come see the sand sculptures on City Pier and Hollywood Beach today through Sunday during the Arts in Action festival, which also offers scores of art and food vendors, live entertainment, a wine and beer garden, painter Ian Morris’ chalk art display on Front Street and a car show.
Sue McGrew, a Tacoma artist who has worked around the world and appeared on the Travel Channel’s “Sand Blasters,” was dreaming up a possibly provocative creation Wednesday afternoon.
“I’m still deciding if I want to do this idea, because it’s got a message,” said McGrew, who likes her sand art both pretty and meaningful.
Common misconception
Lunching Wednesday on the patio outside Smugglers Landing, the cafe beside City Pier, she and her compatriots sought to dispel misconceptions.
For one, sand shapers don’t use glue or armatures to bolster their art; they learn to compact the sand using hand tools, muscle, a little water and, yes, “magic,” McGrew admitted.
She was coy about that ingredient.
There is glue involved — merely spritzed onto the surface like hair spray on a bouffant ‘do.
“It’s like a varnish,” said McGrew, emphasizing that “it’s not holding the whole thing together.”
Since it was added to Arts in Action 13 years ago, Port Angeles’ Sand Sculpture Classic has become known around the globe, said organizer Doc Reiss of the Nor’wester Rotary Club.
Community teams
He sought to mix in new contents this year by inviting community-based sculpture teams.
So alongside the master sculptors are two novice posses sponsored by Phoenix Dragon Martial Arts and Merrill & Ring.
While the masters are vying for five awards — first, second and third place; sculptors’ choice; people’s choice — the community teams are in a class by themselves, angling only for their own people’s choice award.
Quarters
How do the people vote in this contest?
“Vote early; vote often” by dropping quarters into the voting box beside your favorite sculpture, Reiss said.
The Phoenix Dragon and Merrill & Ring sculptors weren’t required to stick to the Hollywood theme — so there’s another point of suspense.
Arts in Action festival-goers will have their first chance today to see the team sculptures plus the six masters’ Sand Sculpture Classic competition entries.
The awards bring small cash prizes, medals and “bragging rights,” Reiss added.
Regardless of such tangible things, Port Angeles is a good place to come, said Fred Dobbs, an Irishman who now lives in Victoria.
Sand Sculpture Classic organizers make sure the artists have restaurant vouchers, home-cooked meals and even kayaking trips.
“We’re treated like royalty,” Dobbs quipped.
Arts in Action festival
The Arts in Action festival is open today from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Along with a panoply of art and craft vendors — nearly 50 displays — the fair features live country, blues, folk and rock ‘n’ roll music throughout both days. The Cruzin’ Bluzers will play from 4:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. Saturday, for example, and the reunited Soul Shakers will take the stage on City Pier from 2:30 p.m. until 3:45 p.m. Sunday.
Admission is free to the festival on City Pier, while it costs $2 to visit the adjacent Sand Sculpture gallery — unless you’re 11 or younger, in which case you get in free if accompanied by an adult.
And don’t be shy as you walk by the sandy figures.
Immediate feedback
The best aspects of these contests, the sculptors agree, are the immediate feedback from passers-by and the nature of the sand itself.
“You can build a monument in a weekend. But then, it’s only sand,” added Mark Chapman, who is both an artist and a mechanical engineer at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Ore.
Unlike the others, Chapman revealed something about his “Hollywood” creation.
This sculpture already has morphed while still inside the maker’s mind. It sounds something like a self-portrait.
“I was going to do a movie poster,” said Chapman. Instead, “it’s going to be a child having a moment of creativity.”
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
