A York man who’s built countless sand sculptures spends hours each week creating his marvellous designs.
Part-time church minister Mark Lewis discovered his love for the craft when he used to take his two sons, now 27 and 25, to build sandcastles at the beach.
From mermaid tails and lions to Crocs and castles, what began as a bit of fun has now turned into “quite a serious hobby.”
Photographs: Supplied
Speaking to YorkMix, Mark said, “We just used to do what everybody else does on the beach, dig big holes and build castles. In around 2010 when the boys were about 10 and 12 years old, we started to get a bit more ambitious.”
They began replicating things they were interested in at the time, such ad Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, and created sand versions of R2-D2 and Jabba the Hutt.
Mark never considered himself to have much artistic ability, and the only formal training he had was an Art O Level from school.
But, practice made perfect, and with each sculpture he improved.
“You learn by trial and error, and the more you learn techniques the more you can push the envelope, gradually you pick up enough skills to start making things look much better,” Mark said.
For his 50th birthday, his sister gifted him a sand sculpting workshop at Sand in Your Eye in West Yorkshire, where he has since collaborated on several projects.
Viral Crocs
In May this year, Mark had travelled to Weymouth, where he crafted a different sculpture on the beach each day, including a bucket and spade, a fish, and a mega-sized pair of Crocs.
According to Mark, Weymouth has ideal sand for sculpting thanks to it’s fine texture, and the town has a rich history of sand and.
Whilst on holiday, he sculpted an oversized pair of Crocs, though he recalled his family jokingly telling him that they, “weren’t his best work.”
Despite this, after packing up for the day and leaving his sculpture behind, one impressed lady saw the Crocs, took a photo, and posted it to a local Weymouth Facebook group.
To Mark’s surprise, the post received thousands of views, and his Instagram and Facebook pages received a surge of interaction.
A day later, tourist attraction Sandworld reached out and invited him to showcase his talents in their giant sandpit.
“For them to ask somebody like me, an amateur, and given the opportunity to do something at a professional sculpture park, I wasn’t going to turn that down. I went along and had a fantastic day,” he said.
Mark scultped a giant mermaid tail, big enough for people to pose behind, and it still stands at the park to this day.
“The park has left it for people to take photos with. So as far as I know it’s still going, which is great.”
A way to unwind
Mark especially enjoys the creative process behind his sculptures and sees the activity as a way to unwind and switch off.
“You get into the zone and you’re concentrating so much on what you’re doing, you become unaware of everything else. You switch off from all the other responsibilities you’ve got, and you’re just able to enjoy being present in the moment and doing something creative.”
He typically creates one sculpture a week, more during the summer time, with regular trips to Scarborough or using his large sandpit at home.
Depending on the size and detail of sculptures, they can take anywhere from two to eight hours. Despite the effort, Mark doesn’t mind leaving them behind.
“It’s a temporary medium, it’s going to either get knocked over or washed away. So you’ve either got to destroy it yourself or leave it with the expectation that somebody else will. So I genuinely don’t mind, I enjoy the process of creating it, and as long as I’ve got some photos at the end, that’s great.”
He also enjoys chatting with beachgoers who stop to admire his work, and hopes to inspire others along the way.
“The only thing is, I’ve often had parents getting a bit upset with me because they think I’m setting the bar too high. Their children now expect them to be able to walk away and replicate what I just made!” Mark joked.
To see more of Mark’s creations, follow his Instagram page here.
More photos below.
