PORT ANGELES — Dan Belcher will take the first-place prize of $1,750 and Sculptors Choice prize of $500 in the North American Masters Invitational sand sculpting competition home with him to St. Louis.
Belcher also won first place at last year’s competition.
Taking second and third place were Carl Jara of Cleveland, Ohio, for his blossoming flower and Damon Langlois of Victoria for his piece, a pregnant woman.
The theme this year was “Wonders of the World.”
The five judges included Port Angeles City Council member Karen Rogers and Clallam County Commissioner Steve Tharinger.
Belcher’s piece was of a woman with flowing hair resting an arm on the world.
A ribbon, carved into the sand around the globe, read “Wonder” in German, Russian, Finnish, Arabic and Japanese.
“Instead of depicting some specific wonder,” Belcher said, “my wonder is the different languages we use to communicate.”
The seventh annual competition is part of the three-day Arts in Action festival, which is put on by the Nor’Wester Rotary Club and continues for one last day today at City Pier with live music, a car show and about 50 food and artisan vendors.
The seven sculptures will remain on display until Saturday. They can be viewed up close for $1 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and about noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Viewers can also still vote for the People’s Choice award, which can be either for the sculptures or a three-dimensional chalk drawing of an orca. A quarter counts as one vote and a dollar counts as five.
On Saturday, the sculptures, located at City Pier, attracted a constant flow of people curious about the artists who were making final touches to the large pieces they began only two days before.
“I like that a lot of them have their own character,” said Kathleen Fix of Seattle.
“They put their own personality into it.”
Said Mark Anderson, also of Seattle: “I just like watching them work.”
For kids who wanted to create their own works of art or just play in the sand, there was something for them on Saturday, too.
Artist Charlotte Kolff from Amsterdam, Netherlands, provided the tools and a bit of guidance if needed in a free workshop at the pier.
And once they got started, there was little to keep them away.
“They stay for a long time,” Kolff said.
“They aren’t leaving after two minutes.”
Some made houses, but Tadem Hodges of Enumclaw was content with just making a smiley face in a ball of sand.
“It makes you feel like a professional,” said the 9-year-old.
Over at Conrad Dyar Memorial Fountain at Laurel and First streets, people can still get a photo of themselves standing on top of a whale.
While the chalk drawing of the orca is flat, it becomes three-dimensional when viewed through a camera lens.
And there wasn’t a shortage of people who wanted a photo with them and the whale.
Carl Busenius of Gig Harbor stuck his tongue out and as he pretended to rub the whale’s belly as his wife, Deborah, took his picture.
Deborah Busenius chose to stand on top of its nose with her hands in the air as if she were balancing.
“You don’t see anything like this,” said Carl Busenius, who was surprised to come across it.
The chalk artist is Ian Morris of Victoria.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
