Enjoying what sunshine he could, artist Peter Vogelaar sculpted over 10 tonnes of sand during the Colonial Days Fair, into an under-the-sea work of art. - Katie Ryan Photo


While many during the weekday grind head to the office each morning, Peter Vogelaar heads to the sandbox. Or to the beach. Or to wherever there is enough sand – over a tonne of sand that is – to sculpt his next masterpiece.
During Colonial Days Fair, Vogelaar set up shop, or rather sandbox, on the Exhibition Grounds and built a sand sculpture specifically for the four-day event complete with an under-the-sea theme. Despite what seemed to be daily rain showers, Vogelaar’s sand sculptures withstood the elements, for the most part.
“I certainly wouldn’t have minded if it had rained less,” chuckled Vogelaar, enjoying the Saturday morning sunshine.
“But, it’s (sculpture) mostly here. The weather hasn’t caused me that much grief. It’s just nobody likes to work in the rain and then some of finer details also get lost. For example this morning I had to put new teeth on the shark. It doesn’t take long to get it back looking like it was, but it’s still standing and I think that surprises a lot of people. When they saw that storm coming, they thought for sure that they would just see a puddle in the ground.”
The finer details of Vogelaar’s “fantasy” creation included a shark scaring fish near the reef, bubbles and more sea inspired elements.
“People love details, the favourite elements in this one is the little fish hiding in the castle. People come by and they start noticing what is going on and then they clue in on those things,” said the artist who doesn’t sketch out or draft his sand sculptures in advance. “I am just making it up.”
Looking on the sunny side of the inclement weather that plagued the fair, Vogelaar said his work was not a victim to vandals.
“Believe it or not, this is one of the side effects  of the weather, that I have actually had less problems with rowdies,” he said with a laugh.
Vogelaar travels the festival circuit in the summer, across Canada and even around the world building sand creations. At the Calgary Stampede in 2007 he was asked to design a “Pirates of the Caribbean” sculpture to the delight of Stampeders.
During Vogelaar’s first trip to Colonial Days this month, a steady stream of fair-goers stopped to chat, take pictures and pick up tips for future sand creations of their own.
“This is a little different atmosphere here, smaller town, more friendly I think. And people really appreciate what I am doing,” he said. “A number of people said they were at the beach and wish they had seen this first.”
When he’s not on the road, Vogelaar spends his time at home near Nelson, B.C. “which is nowhere near a beach,” he laughed.
“Everyone assumes that sand sculptors live on beaches, but that’s not really necessary. I am fortunate there is a community of sand sculptors and we all network with each other, so I have been able to work in Italy and China. Next week I’ll be in Medicine Hat, but last week I was in Prince Edward Island.”
In comparison, Vogelaar said his Colonial Days sculpture was small unlike other projects he’s been asked to create.
“A couple of years ago we did a 1,000–tonne project in Prince Edward Island. That stayed open all summer, people don’t realize you can create sand sculpture shows and charge admission,” he said.
The Colonial Days “sand castle”consisted of over 10 tonnes of sand, which turned out to be “too clean” for the artist.
“We like natural sediment and clay in it,” said Vogelaar adding that he poured an additional 150 pounds of “dirtier” sand into the mix as well. “It’s less than one per cent, but it does help a bit.”
Vogelaar’s tools consist of “simple stuff” like trowels, paint brushes, pallet knives and blow straws.
“I have these really neat tools that shape bubbles. A friend of mine from Holland invented them and they make perfect spheres,” he said. As for advice to beginner sand sculptors, Vogelaar recommends using bottomless buckets.
“With a few buckets, ice-cream size or five gallon pail, you can create a three or four foot high castle very quickly. And always work from the top down when you start on your castle, otherwise if you finish something from below and then you work above it you are just going to obscure whatever you did.”
For the past seven years Vogelaar has been creating works of art from sand, but prior to that he sculpted snow, garnering awards as well on the Canadian Snow Sculpture Team.
“I have been an artist all my life. For almost 20 years now I have been doing snow sculptures and I am also proud to say that our team are the Olympic snow sculpting champions. We won in Italy, but they didn’t have it in Vancouver so I guess we are still the reigning champions,” he said.
“For me it was  natural progression to get into sand, though I wish I had learned about it much sooner. I’ve only been doing it seven years, but a lot of people on the circuit have 20 to 30 years experience. It’s a really interesting life, the only draw back is that I am not home very often. But then people come up to me saying ‘you get paid to do this?’”
For more information about Peter Vogelaar check out www.amazingsand.com.