Usually sand sculpture is quite monotone due to the overall sandy colour of it's material. But there is one project that I attended that had a multitude of colour. It was still natural sand but in a very special location in Central China called the Coloured sand forest.
Near the City of Luliang is a canyon valley where on the walls you can see the layers of sand have many distinct colours. From Black to white to browns to yellows and red. These were the colours we were asked to use in our sculptures.
I jumped at the chance when invited. This was in the years when Sand sculpture was getting very popular in Asia and these events organised by the W.S.S.A World Sand Sculpture Association were a big deal. I was to represent Ireland at this international Competition. The 1st prize was to be a silly $10,000.
Anti competitive behaviour
I'm not one for competitions when it comes to the arts as it will inevitable come down to personal tastes as to what wins. Who made the better paintings Picasso or Michel Angelo? I really don't think judging one against the other will lead to a good outcome. Maybe if you get them both to create the exact same image in the same time frame with the same tools and materials a decision can be reached, but is that art?
With sand sculpture we have the same thing. People who create amazing Architecture are pitted against some beautiful figurative piecess and then its down to some dubious Judges to decide on a winner.
In China the problem is even worse where the winners are based on political motives and it leaves most of the sculptors irritated by the result. When $10000 is up for grabs and the appearance fee is quite low it makes the whole thing a joke. Like we are pawns in game of checkers.
That said, I was happy to go for the experience knowing full well the winner was predestined. (There will be more about this later.)
Design by committee
I was asked to send a design of my piece before I went. The theme was famous books and I was given Don Quixote. I hadn't read it so bought a copy and read through it as quickly as possible for inspiration. Not being the fastest reader this took a while, the book was like a brick of recycled trees.
I then set about making a quick model out of clay. I really hate designing before I get to feel the sand but the Chinese wanted to have everything pre-planned.
After I had sent some images I got a mail back saying what they exactly wanted in my sculpture so it was back to the drawing board to draw up an illustration of their idea.
I would have preferred to just make everything up as I went along on site and work with the sand but I must admit that I was quite happy with my sketch.
Culture shock
Luliang was an interesting town, out in the middle of nowhere and not really a place westerner would visit if they weren't making a sand sculpture or something crazy like that. I really got the feeling that we were some of the first Caucasians that the locals had seen. I remember a young child, around 3 or 4 pointing at me and crying into his mothers apron at my large nose and pasty skin and a crowd would follow us around town pretending to be interested in what took our fancy. It really felt like being a superstar. The people were really friendly. One guy offered me some dried donkeys penis which he motioned was a great aphrodisiac. I motioned back I didn't need such a thing. (Yes, this was an interesting game of charades.)
The Luliang pact
Before we started carving on our solo sculptures a few of us got talking, @stijgerart, Martin Tilinius (From Denmark) and a few others about the fact that $10000 dollars going to a predestined winner would be far better spread among all the sculptors. We would all be doing the same amount of work and at this point before any of us knew the winner we could agree to share. To play bingo with our wages seemed ridiculous and the judging of Art in this way was not great.
I called a meeting of all the carvers in the Hotel lobby and proposed the idea. In my head it seemed like a good solution seeing as we all knew that the competition was rigged and I had canvased most sculptors already, lots seemed interested. The organisers could still have their winners and losers but us would all be going home with the same payment for our work.
I really wasn't ready for the shouting match that was directed at me. How dare I suggest such a thing. The most vocal against me were the carvers from the USA. They said this was a competition and if I didn't like the rules why was I here. They didn't like my answer that I thought sand sculpture could one day be an art form and that this kind of competition was doing nothing for it's image. When they started comparing it to F1 racing I knew I was arguing with people that had a very different view point to me.
I was shouted down at every turn and when the head of the W.S.S.A entered to hear what all the fuss was about I got a second bollockin'. He wasn't happy at all with my proposal. (He was also from the US). He said that one day he hoped to bring sand sculpture to the Olympic Games and make it into a competitive sport. He then went round the room asking each sculptor what they thought of my idea saying that if they agreed with me they would never be invited anymore to one of his projects. What most pissed me off was that many of the sculptors who had shown the idea support cowered away leaving me high and dry. @stijgerart and Martin still had my back but this was a losing battle.
Interestingly one of the female Chinese Sculptors, Chen was a big supporter.
There is a certain irony that here I was in China suggesting some sort of Communistic solution to Capitalists to what I saw as an unfair system.
The meeting broke up with me feeling very deflated and I left the Hotel to be by myself and nurse my wounds. I found myself in an internet cafe and was immediately adopted by the locals who offered me free food and drink, giving me back my fate in humanity.
###Re com pacted
I never spoke of it again with the Sculptors who had lambasted me at the meeting but the next day before starting our sculptures we signed the Luliang Pact. All agreeing that we would share the prize money that we got in equal shared with the rest of the signatories and off we went to work. A total of around 5 signed the document that will go do in Sand sculpture history.
I found it very funny when very quickly it became apparent that one of the carvers was already the chosen one. A Russia sculptor and his piece based on a famous Communist era book. The TV cameras stayed with him the whole time as he created his piece and all the interviewers and reporters gave him all the attention while the other sculptors got on with their work. It was funny to see the attitude of the sculptors change as they knew their competitive spirit was in vain. For me and the others who had joined the pact we were happy to let the whole thing play out and just enjoy the making of our sculptures.
Helpless
I was given an young girl as an interpreter and around five old chineese farmers to help me with my piece. It stood around 8 meters tall and 10 meter square at the base. Having the extra hands was supposed to make thing easier. I would explain the sand I wanted removed to the girl and she would translate my orders to the men, then they would get to work. In theory that was how it was supposed to work. I soon realised that after me explaining for a minute what I wanted the men to do to the young lady she would translate it as two words to the men. They would dig for a moment and then stop and look at me for further orders having done only a fraction of what I asked. I had some fun calling to the girl, (who spent most of the day on her phone) 'Miss interpreter can you please ask them to remove this sand to this line' She never got joke and never passed on my messages.This was going to be a tough.
Two sculptures for the price of one
The process of making these coloured sand sculptures was as follows. First I would carve the basic form out of a block of compacted sand which was a yellowy colour. Then, I would plaster on a layer of different coloured sand to make the details in. I could look to the walls of the valley and find a seam of sand that I wanted and ask one of my helpers to get some buckets and go up and retrieve the sand I wanted.
This way of working pretty much doubled the amount of work that needed to be done to finish the sculpture, first carve then paint. Even though I hadn't the best translator I was slowly but surely getting some of the men to understand what I was hoping to achieve.
Poop mines
This was for sure a hard job and one where you needed to be in good health. Unfortunately for me that was not meant to be. A day or two in and I started to get severe cramps and, how do I put this nicely, the worse shits I've ever had.
I thought it may have been the local cuisine I had tried like the dog and chicken head soup but it became apparent that the kitchen that was preparing our lunch was right next to an open sewer pipe that flowed passed it's door.
I still had to work and the sculpture was around half a kilometer from the nearest toilet which was a communal affair with no doors and holes in the floor leading directly to the kitchen.
Needless to say that wasn't a option so I took many a long walk up into the hill to do my poop mines. The whole experience was horrible.
Still in the end I got the sculpture finished as best I could but I really hated it. My sculpting quality was awful and I thought the garish colours made it look worse. Sometimes I really wonder should I be adding these to the steem blockchain.
The final ceremony
When we first arrived in the Coloured Sand Forest workers were digging a big hole in the ground. I asked about it and was told that it was going to be for the opening/ prize giving ceremony. They had around 10 days to make whatever they were making.
Over the 10 days I was amazed at how quickly the hundreds of guys worked and by the end they had made a massive Amphitheater with granite seating all round.
I invite you to check out the location on @Steemitworldmap tagged at the end of this post. Unfortunately @Steemitworldmap doesn't allow you to see things as a satellite view anymore so here's the link via google maps.
You can see the amphitheater which they built in ten days.
The opening ceremony was a massive affair with 90,000 people in the theater and around another 30,000 watching from the hills surrounding. It was awe inspiring. Famous Chinese musicians and performers were invited to entertain and during the ceremonies we where to get our prizes.
The sculptors were sat in the second row behind politicians and other famous people. For me to be stuck in my seat at the center of this spectacles was amazing and I wanted to move around. I got out of my seat to go to the toilet and wondered away thru the crowd. The audience said hello and I said Hi and suddenly I was surround by a crowd not letting me move, each asking for my autograph and taking photos. I was thronged.
Please stay in your seats
I started to sign autographs and as each was taken away another book appeared under it for me to also sign. Book by book I scribbled on and as one was removed the hand of a baby was presented to me to sign. I looked at the parents and they eagerly egged me on. So, in the jostling crowd I tried to sign my name on the tiny hand. I had had enough and pushed my way out of the crowd and back to my seat. Safe at last the ceremony began.
From the seating arrangement it was obvious who the winners were so they could get to stage easily when called. One by one we were called up on stage and given our medals.
The Russian of course won with no big cheers from the other sculptors at the announcement. There were no surprises really except for the Chinese carver, Chen who got a special prize for use of colour. We all gave her a massive round of applause. She was very happy to later share her prize with the other people of the Pact.
I felt very unhappy with my sculpture and guilty that i hadn't been selected for a prize to share with everyone seeing as I had really championed the idea but I was incredibly impressed by the atmosphere it created around all the others that were involved.
In years to come the US carvers would change their tune and begin to sign up for the Luliang Pact at other projects. Many competition now have a much better appearance fee and the prizes are usually more token of appreciation. I have won some and lost some but for me I will never take them seriously.
Sorry for such a long post but I wanted to get the whole story across of this great project and all it's trials and tribulations so that people will know where the Luliang Pact begun.
Ps
Thanks for reading. I use Steemit to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor of sand, snow and ice among other things. This will hopefully give it a new life on the Steem blockchain. I am doing them in chronological order so there are many more to come. Below you will find some of my recent posts.
Duncannon Scroll (Addendum) - Sand/Cement Sculpture
Duncannon Scroll (part 2) - Sand/Cement Sculpture
Duncannon Scroll (part 1) - Sand/Cement Sculpture
I hope you'll join me again soon.
@ammonite