Surf and Sand: Lowcountry Beaches
Carving it up
By Abi Nicholas
Photo by Abi Nicholas
Tideline
A crowd gathers as brothers Mitch (left), Mark (center) and Michael Embler work on
“Rob’s Tower,” a giant sand castle that took three hours to sculpt.
Sport, art or hobby? From families just having fun to pros making $300,000 a year, everyone digs sand sculpting.
Believe it or not, sand sculpture has a bit of a sordid past.
The first people to actually profit from their sand sculpting abilities washed up along the New Jersey shore in the late 1800s. Those strolling along the boardwalk in Atlantic City would throw them spare change, and by the turn of the century, word had spread that there was money in making structures out of sand. Enterprising artists swarmed the beaches, so much so that they were looked upon as a nuisance by town officials.
Years later, in 1944, a hurricane destroyed the boardwalk and demolished the sand dunes; Atlantic City officials saw the change in landscape as an opportunity to finally ban sand sculpting along the boardwalk, a law that is still in place today.
The sand-sculpting scene across the Atlantic wasn’t much better.
In 1901, The Strand Magazine published an article by Emory James about sand sculptors on the German coast at the North Sea resort town of Nordenay. He referred to them as “the cheapjacks of the sands, who, for a hatful of coins and his bread and butter, design to display his artistic skill before the multitude.”
But sand sculptors today are no longer “the cheapjacks of the sands”; they are skilled sportsmen, craftsmen and certainly not dodgy characters.
Take Marc Brumbaugh, for example. Sweating profusely, racing against the clock, using all the tools and techniques he’s acquired over the years, Brumbaugh created a replica of the H.L. Hunley out of sand at the Piccolo Spoleto Sand Sculpting Competition held May 31 at Front Beach at the Isle of Palms.
Brumbaugh is an athlete, and sand sculpture is his sport.
Photo by Abi Nicholas
Tideline
Marc Brumbaugh of Ladson takes a close look at his quarter-scale model of the H.L. Hunley, which won first place in the “Best of Adults” category.
Some would argue that sand sculpture is not a legitimate sport, though it certainly has all the trappings of one: a World Championship tournament; competitors raking in as much as $300,000 a year from tournaments and competitions; a set of rules, tools and techniques; an association; an audience.
Brumbaugh, the brawn — and brains — behind the quarter-scale sand sculpture of the H.L. Hunley, which won first place in the Best of Adults category, would argue that he does more than just play in the sand. It requires skill, stamina and speed.
He began preparing for this year’s competition months ago. During preseason, the Ladson resident spoke with archaeologists and museum curators, securing the exact measurements of the historic submarine so that by the time the season rolled around, he had his plans drawn and was ready to focus on his game.
Like a tennis player practicing a backhand, or a quarterback running plays until they become second nature, the 52-year-old former Marine hones his base-building, carving and compaction skills. For the Piccolo Spoleto competition, he set up a camera during trial runs to take pictures at five-minute intervals, tracking his progress to ensure that he could build the structure within the allotted time period.
By the time game day rolled around, Brumbaugh was ready to take the field.
The sun was brutal. The dry sand burned like hot coals. And every once in a while, Brumbaugh, donning an athletic brace on his left knee, would glance over his left shoulder, then his right, mentally noting the progress of his competitors like an Olympic swimmer scanning the pool on the last leg of his race.
He paced himself during the threehour match, recovering during brief water breaks and time-outs to adjust the dial on his portable radio.
Conserving his energy, the MUSC electrician spoke only to instruct his teammates: Debbie, his wife, and Kim Thayer, both nurses at MUSC, and Danny Clerici, a tile-setter.
Brumbaugh entered the competition for the first time two years ago, winning third place in the Best Architectural category for adults, which is notable not only because it was his first stab but also because he built the sculpture alone. Most teams have two to four members.
This year Brumbaugh was shooting for Best of Show, but he couldn’t quite out-sculpt Mitch Embler. A few sites down, Embler carefully chiselled intricate lines through a tiered mound of wet sand, the stonework for a structure just over eight feet tall and encompassed by elaborate gates and archways. Embler and his team were creating their most majestic sand castle to date.
Embler would not call himself an athlete, though. He is an artist, and the beach is his canvas.
There is no denying that sand sculptures — at least the ones that draw “oohs” and “ahhs” from spectators — require some sort of artistic ability to build.
Like any artists or craftsmen, sand sculptors, or carvers as they’re referred to, must know their medium.
Photo by Abi Nicholas
Tideline
Michael Embler of Greenville and his brother Mitch Embler of Mount Pleasant's “Rob’s Tower,” the castle that won Best
of Show at the Piccolo Spoleto Sand Sculpting Competition in
late May.
A skilled carver like Embler, who built the massive sand castle — “Rob’s Tower” — at the Piccolo Spoleto competition with his wife, Kim, and brothers, Mark and Michael, knows that due to water erosion, the sand at the Isle of Palms has been beach-rolled and is too round for the structure to maintain its shape; therefore, he must continually water the sand to hold it together. (For this reason, the world championship of sand sculpting is held in Harrison Hot Springs, British Columbia, where the event can last for several days because the beach is composed of mountain silt grains that have retained their natural, angular shape.)
To create their masterpiece, Embler and his team built a huge tower, packing the sand on layer by layer with molds until it was strong and hard enough to hold Embler’s weight. Then he stood on the structure, and from top to bottom, carefully and deliberately cut away the sand to eventually reveal a majestic castle.
Their father taught them how to build drip castles when they were young boys vacationing at the Isle of Palms. By 1989, they were masters of their craft, and one of the two youngest brothers won the first ever Piccolo Spoleto Sand Sculpting Competition all by himself — Mitch would argue it was him, but Mark, the baby of the family at 50, lays claim to the glory.
Nearly 20 years later, the roster has grown, and standing about one foot taller than Shaquille O’Neal, so has the castle.
For the Emblers, though, the sand sculpting competition is not as much about winning as it is about challenging their artistic abilities — and carrying on a tradition, something Jane Hunt hopes to start with her family.
The Hunts were rookies at this year’s Piccolo Spoleto Sand Sculpting Competition, certainly not expecting any awards. But that’s not why the clan from Summerville signed up. They’ve watched the event in the past: “It looked like so much fun, like something we could all do together, and it was free,” Hunt said.
She and her husband, along with their two kids, carved an alligator out of the sand, using shells for the reptile’s teeth and claws.
A couple of weeks before the competition, they took a trip to the beach to practice. “We weren’t sure what we wanted to do, but given our abilities — or lack of — we knew it should be low to the ground,” Hunt said.
After a few hours of scraping and patting and carving, something started to take shape: “It was kind of like a manatee, or an alligator — we just went with alligator,” Hunt joked.
Taking shape
Sand scultping teams use a variety of specialized techniques, but the endeavor usually involves a few universal aspects:
SHOVELING:Every grain of sand used in the sculpture is shoveled there by its respective carver. Some carvers use forms, made of wood or plastic, and sand from the beach is shoveled into them with plenty of water to make it workable.
TAMPING: After the sand and water combination has been placed into the forms, tamping is required to compact the grains of sand and get the square surfaces lined up to each other. This is usually done with a heavy metal tool that the worker pounds onto the surface until the next layer of sand/water is applied.
WATER: Without water, the dry sand would just slump to the ground and be impossible to work with. Think of it as the glue that holds the creations together. Water is delivered either by hose or by bucket.
CARVING: Once the forms are complete and the sand is compacted, the sculpting can begin. Work is done from the top down with the forms being removed when they are no longer needed to stand on. When all of the carving is completed andthe forms are removed, the focus is on the ground area. Many artists spend considerable time with elaborate detail on the grounds, adding to the effect of of the overall sculpture.
Source: www.harrisand.org .
2008 Piccolo Spoleto Sand
Sculpting Competition Results
BEST OF CHILDREN’S
1ST: I.O.P Volcano (Site R)
2ND: Gone Fishin’ (Site HH)
3RD: Egyptian Burial Ground (Site S)
BEST OF YOUNG ADULTS
1ST: Archeo-Awesome (Site D)
2ND: Summer Time (Site E)
3RD: Shipwrecked (Site F)
BEST OF FAMILY
1ST: Afternoon Nap (Site 27)
2ND: Bozo the Clown Fish (Site 26)
3RD: Aslan (Site 28)
MOST CREATIVE
1ST: Piccolo Picasso (Site 12)
2ND: Sky Heart Falls (Site L)
3RD: Castle Grey Skull (Site 3)
BEST ARCHITECTURAL
1ST: 30 Years of Piccolo (Site 14)
2ND: Old Man in the Sea (Site 6)
3RD: Piccolo Picnic (Site 17)
BEST OF ADULTS
1ST: H.L. Hunley (Site 13)
2ND: Old Man in the Sea (Site 6)
3RD: Piccolo Picnic (Site 17)
BEST OF SHOW
Rob’s Tower (Site 9)
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