2003 Fort Myers Beach, Florida
17th American Sandsculpting Festival
"Finding Captain Nemo's Guitar Studio"
1st place winner of the Florida State Championship
My recent trip to the 17th American Sandsculpting Festival resulted in an
exciting 1st place win. Talk about a great feeling! The 13-hour carve involved
seven artists, spread out between the Outrigger and Holiday Inn resorts.
The Florida State Championship started early on Saturday and finished Sunday
afternoon. The event, however, was not without it's difficulties. Saturday
evening brought a hour long downpour that caused hundreds to scatter for cover.
Later that night, a closer inspection revealed that much detail had been
lost.
So.... Sunday morning's first job was to bring the detail back. In some
regards, my rendition of a Carvin Contour actually turned out better. I shaved
the body and neck down more and redid the frets. (It needed tuning as
well).
I heard one young spectator remark, "Hey, Dad. Look at that cross
guitar!" Stepping back for a moment, I took another look at my sculpture.
That interpretation hadn't occurred to me.
Later, Amazing Walter called my cross piece a "very wide capo". No
chance of that slipping off!
A couple of Carvin amps adorned the right side of my Nemo/submarine
structure. Many remarked that Nemo wouldn't be interested in guitar; he was an
organ player, right? Of course, of course. But an unusual guy like Nemo had to
eventually branch out and learn a new instrument. And it was only a matter of
time till he plugged in.
(I love the way the sky and light fall...)
Come Monday, the sculptures at the Outrigger were still up. Relatively
unfazed by the windy night. (Though I did hear that some were vandalized at the
other resort.)
To Barb and friends at the Chamber of Commerce, Jeanne at the Outrigger,
Angela the Outrigger site manager ("You've got 15 more minutes,
Ron!"), Megan from nearby Publix (thanks for that hard to find plastic!),
Sandy Richardson (for those constant choruses of, "Look, Sponge
Bob!"), the other sculptors (for their quirkiness and camaraderie), and to all who stopped by to just say, "Hi", I look forward to seeing
you again next year. God bless.
So, now you've seen my entry, now take a look at the other artists from the 17th Annual American Sandsculpting Festival.
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