Kreativ Sand Sculptures | home
The Artist
Who's Stan ?
Stan discovered his passion for sculpting at a young age making snowmen. Growing up in Canada snow was around at least six months of the year. Stan would pile snow to later carve out snow sculptures. Stan moved to spain in 1999 where he discovered the beach and especially the sand. The fun of making sand sculptures on the beach in the sun was far more enjoyable than snow sculpting. Stan quickly took taste of the beach life, creating sand and snow sculptures all over Europe and North-Africa...
In 1999 Stan had moved to Valencia, Spain, to learn Spanish. There was one big problem : he couldn't find any work, anywhere! He applied everywhere from restaurants to constuction sites. No one wanted to hire him because he couldn't speak the language. Stan had never lived so close to a coast or the beach before. The weather was a dream come true.
Finally he found a way of earning a little cash by selling cold drinks on the beach. He was really good at it, and quickly became quite popular. Earning just about enough to pay for rent and food.
One day he went down to the beach to get the thirsty morning crowd and there he was... A jolly looking man with long blond dreads. He was sweating like he had run a mile, standing in front of a huge pile of sand. Stan started talking, and the man eventually revealed to him who he was, and what he was doing. He was from Finland! His name was Janne ! ( JXe ) and he spoke english.
JXe was making this huge mound of sand to later carve out what he called his sand art. (Sand Sculptures). Stan asked him if he was doing this for fun or what. He told him that he had been living from it for several months. Jxe showed Stan that just by building a sand sculpture on the beach he would attract every person in site. People are facinated with sand art. The possibility of creating anything with just sand and water amazed them all.
Every day the sculpture evolved becoming more detailed and beutiful. People thanked him by dropping off a coin or small bill in the hat to encourage him. Being on the beach all day long, making sand sculptures, answering all the questions , getting water with buckets in the sea, and guarding the sculpture just became an everyday life style that completely facinated Stan.
Stan and Jxe started getting along great, Jxe quickly taught him all the tricks, and soon realized that he had a talent for this too. For once, Stan had found something that he really enjoyed doing, and there was a possibility of living from it. Jxe asked if stan wanted to continue travelling with him, and from that day they became the official...
United Beach Bums !
Always on the road, not knowing where to sleep at night, going from beach-to-beach, busking sand sculptures to barely make enough to eat, and travel, was an adventure Stan had never thought of being possible. They worked beaches all over Europe from that day on. Travelling the whole coast of Spain for the first year together. They learned Spanish, and met with a bunch of people from all over the world, and maybe different planets...
Travelling all around Europe, building sand sculptures, socialising, and always on the beach. The beach-bum thing was a dream come true. With time, all sorts of things happened, arguments, girlfriends, mood swings, and even an earth quake. Since 2004, (creation of the website) Stan has been all over creating his art on beaches, festivals and shopping centers all over France and europe.
Stan's First Sand Dragon 1999
kreativ-sandz.com 2008
