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 Jan Selen
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Ist PLACE WINNER AT 2011 SANDING OVATIONS
SCULPTOR'S CHOICE WINNER AT 2011 SANDING OVATIONS
Jan has been working in sand since 1997. Since 2002, he's been involved in international events and competitions and has won several prizes, including 1st place in the Valladolid, Spain solo in 2005 and 2006; 1st prize at the Rorschach, Swiss doubles in 2008 and worlds first winner of the speedcarving competition. He studied Industrial Design Engineering in Delft University, The Netherlands and is the owner of SJENG ‘visual thinking & translation’ supporting business with visual communication by sketching out ideas & thoughts for his clients. Jan is a happy daddy of his little daughter and happy partner of his lady.
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Stephane Robert
Montreal, Quebec
2nd PLACE WINNER AT 2011 SANDING OVATIONS
As a self taught artist, art has been omnipresent in his day-to-day life under numerous shapes and forms ever since childhood. With time, Stephane has made the art of sculpture his preferred medium and it has evolved into a way of self expression. Starting with wood sculpting, life opportunities have led him toward other ephemeral and unique media such as snow, ice, sand and even chocolate. Today, he independently lives from his art and takes advantage of performing around the world as a professional carver competing with the best.
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 Dan Belcher
St. Louis, Missouri
3rd PLACE WINNER AT 2011 SANDING OVATIONS
Dan has been creating professional sand sculptures around the world since 1990 and is honored to have learned from many pioneers of the art form, and now gets the privilege of collaborating and making friends with the best, new, talented, and amazing sand sculptors from around the world. Competitively, Dan won 13 World Championships, including: 3 World Championships (Solo ) in 2005,’06 & ‘07, 1 World Championship (Doubles) in 2006 and 9 World Championships (Team). Dan has been the only sculptor to have won all 3 contests, and the only sculptor to win 2 championships in the same year. "Sand sculpture is a test," says Dan. "It can sometimes flow like a dance, and sometimes feel like a wrestling match. Either way, it is an exhilarating physical and creative endeavor; a wonderful process and an awe inspiring product; a means of calm focus, and a cause of frustration." Dan has a Landscape Architecture degree from Kansas State University, and continues to find time to work in the Architecture/ Engineering field as an Urban Designer in his home town of St. Louis, Missouri. He also brews his own beer.
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Benjamin Probanza
Acapulco, Mexico
4th PLACE WINNER AT 2011 SANDING OVATIONS
Benjamin's personal interests are photography, especially nature themes, stop-motion films, sculpting, designing toys, all kinds of music, motorcycles, new technologies and art in all forms. His many championships and recognitions began in 1967 and continue today. Besides his sand sculpting talents he is also accomplished in stop-motion short films, live shows with drawings of sand and light, and short films using these techniques. Benjamin, as a member of WSSA (World Sand Sculptors Association), won the 2003 WSSA Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award.
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 Lucinda “Sandy Feet” Wierenga
South Padre Island, Texas
PEOPLE'S CHOICE WINNER AT 2011 SANDING OVATIONS
Lucinda “Sandy Feet” Wierenga has won a modest amount of international fame for her home town of South Padre Island, TX with her sand sculpting skills by leading sand sculpture workshops and competing at major events all around the world for over two decades. She has been the subject of numerous print articles and TV shows -- If you saw the 2008 episode of The Travel Channel’s “Sand Blaster” series (where they blow up the sculptures) you would have seen her and partner Kirk Rademaker walk away with the big fat first place check. A former high-school English teacher, Lucinda has taught literally thousands of people how to build a better sand castle. The paperback edition of her book - "Sandcastles Made Simple" - came out in 2009 and spent much of the summer at the top of the Amazon.com best seller list in the "sculpture" category. She is sole proprietor of the Sandbox Inn of South Padre Island - a spacious beach house vacation rental where guests can hone their sand sculpting skills under her tutelage. Most recently, she is directing her sand sculpting energies into the promotion of "beach billboards" -- zero carbon footprint advertising for a new, greener age.See more of her sculptures at www.sandyfeet.com - or visit www.sandcastlecentral.com for sand sculpture tips, tricks and pics. |
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Dan Doubleday
Treasure Island, Florida
Dan is a 2 time World Champion winning both a Solo and Doubles gold medal. His titles include W.S.S.A. Europe Champion, North American Champion, Cervia (Italy) Champion, Treasure Island Champion, 2 times Sand Castle Days Champion, 3 times Texas Sand Fest Champion, 2 time Hampton Beach Champion, New England Champion, Tallahassee Champion. Dan and his partner, Meredith Corson, appeared on all three episodes of the Travel Channel’s Sand Blasters: The Extreme Sand Sculpting Championship, winning 1st place on the second season. Dan was discovered sculpting on a beach in Santa Cruz, CA, in 1995 and was invited to an international Master-level competition just 6 months later, where he placed 4th. He entered his first World Championship in 1996, where he won the Sculptors’ Choice award, becoming the first North American to take that honor. www.sandingovations.com
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Jonathan Bouchard
Montreal, Quebec
Better known as Jobi (pronounced joe-bee), Jobi is 2 time winner and reigning champion of the Revere Beach Invitational and 2011 Virginia Beach American Duos Champion. Fairly new to the competitive world of sand sculpting, Jobi already has the utmost respect from fellow competitors as a very creative and competitive person. His ideas are unique and expertly performed. He travels the world making sand sculptures for commercial events and has competed in many competitions throughout the U.S. He hails from French speaking Canada but is fluent in English, so throw him a compliment if you like what you see. Always look for something impressive, different and incredible from this very talented sculptor.
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Chris Guinto
Key West, Florida
Chris has been sculpting sand for about 10 years. He and his wife Marianne own and operate the Sand Box in Key West, Florida where they hold corporate challenges, team building events, school workshops and teach sculpting to anyone who wants to learn. When not sculpting sand Chris is a certified wildlife catch and release hunter. He specializes in gators, crocs and iguanas. This is usually reflected in his sculptures which are often an animal life and are so realistic they seem alive.
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Rusty Croft
Carmel, California
Rusty Croft is one of Travel Channel’s newest personalities. Every Sunday you can watch his adventures across the globe with fellow artists as they create unimaginable masterpieces from sand on Travel Channel's hit show SAND MASTERS. Rusty's professional sand sculpting career began in San Diego in 1997, where he worked with an international sand team creating a world record setting sculpture, “The Lost City of Atlantis”. From that point on his creativity was unleashed and he has been invited to sculpt in over 15 different countries. Rusty is now the co-owner of Sand Guys, based in Carmel California, where they work for the “ Silicon Valley elite”, creating sand sculptures for the likes of Yahoo, Google and Facebook. Sand Guys also give workshops and lessons that develop team building, creativity, and most of all fun. After fourteen years Rusty still finds the most pleasure in traveling to new places, meeting new people and watching as they discover the extraordinary, in ordinary sand. Rusty has been on Good Morning America and featured by national publications such as Sunset Magazine; you can read about Rusty Croft's life and career in the current issue of American Lifestyles. Dig In & Make Art is his motto.... join in and travel with him on Facebook and Travel Channel.com.
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Arianne van Rosmalen
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Arianne started fulltime sandsculpting after she finished her Master degree of Biology in 2006. During the year she worked on big international sandsculpture festivals as well as smaller projects which she organizes herself. She enjoys to have a profession in which she wants to develop, to practice, to design and to notice that this is a true profession in which her experience as well as her ambition grows.
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Meredith Corson, Sculptor Organizer
Treasure Island, Florida
Meredith is a World Champion Gold Medalist and has the honor of being the first woman to win a medal at the World Championships. Ti tles : World Champion Duos, American Champion, 2 time North American Champion, Cervia, Italy Champion, 2 time Texas Sand Fest Champion, and Sand Castle Days Champion. In addition to her Championship Titles, Meredith has medaled more than 30 times, has earned 8 People’s Choice awards, 2 Sculptors’ Choice award and 2 host organization awards. Meredith and her partner, Dan Doubleday, appeared on all three episodes of the Travel Channel’s Sand Blasters: The Extreme Sand Sculpting Championship, winning 1st place in 2008.Raised in New Bedford, MA, Meredith relocated to Florida in 1980 and started sculpting sand as a hobby. In 1996 she met Dan Doubleday at a competition and the two became a couple as well as business partners in Sanding Ovations. www.sandingovations.com
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PRESENTED BY
The City of
Treasure Island
Parks & Recreation
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