I am two weeks into my new adventure with Sand In Your Eye. It was very sad to leave my job at Tigerprint and carve out a new career in sand sculpture. I have certainly been thrown in at the deep end!

We are currently working in Germany just finishing the first of two events. We are in the seaside town of Binz, at a large sand sculpture festival. I am privileged to be among a group of very talented sculptors, creating large pieces of art. I have  worked with Jamie before on some of his events. Mainly last summer, but that was more for fun. This time this is my job, so its all become very real.

The first 3 days I worked with Jamie, creating a sculpture of Wilhelm Röntgen, he discovered the xray. It was good to be with Jamie at first so he could instruct me and give me tasks to work on. It felt a lot less daunting, as he was fully aware of my limited skills and its also nice to be with him. In the two years we have been together, we have spent a lot of time apart, as we both travelled a lot with our jobs. This journey I am taking as a member of Sand In Your Eye, makes me anxious, but most of all , excited about a wonderful future ahead of us both.

Wilhelm Röntgen Claire Jamieson

I was then given a sculpture of my own! I was a block of sand 2 metres high. I was a little worried about this, but Martin, the artistic leader, encouraged me and said this was the only way to learn. He was right. I have learnt so much in that first week and feel much more confident. Jamie has also been on hand to give me advice along the way. 5 days later Bernd Das Brot was born! He is a character from German TV, when the regular programming ends at night.

 

The next challenge was three giant gummy bears. Jamie and I came up with the concept. It’s a portrayal of unrequited love. As sad as the story is for one unfortunate gummy bear, it ends in a beautiful romance for the other two. The design was done, so Jamie left me to it…… 2 days of solid shoveling. I am not built for strength, so it was a hard slog, occasionally looking into the distance at Jamie sat on a bucket, leisurely carving away. My shoulder in pain, I asked Jamie to assist with the heavy work and like my knight in shining armour he came to my rescue (grumbling about how I need to train and build up my muscles, if I want a career in sand sculpture).

Meanwhile, Jamie was working a huge five metre sculpture of Retro TV, complete with German cartoon characters leaping out. Watching Jamie sculpt such huge pieces with ease is incredible. He makes it seem so easy, its lovely to watch him bringing the characters to life. He rarely just makes something from a picture, he creates a story about whatever the theme is and illustrates the design from there. This, I think is what makes his pieces so enchanting.

Mainzelmännchen

We completed our sculptures in time and the event opened. The visitors could view many different sculptures, made from people all over Europe and it looked great. It’s been lovely to get to know everyone. I am now ready for the next leg in Usedom! Wish me luck!

Claire