DAY 4

Rhossili Beach

25th July 2024

DYDD 4

25 Gorffennal

Rhosili

Artists /Artistiaid:

SARA HOLDEN,

TINA MARIE CUNNINGHAM,

JENNY CHISHOLM

Photographer / Ffotograffydd Prosiect:

PHIL HOLDEN

On the fourth day of our 20th annual Beach Sculpture Festival, the event moved to a new beach location in the tour at spectacular Rhossili. An iconic and dramatic place, the beach is reached by many steep cliff-top steps which are well worth the effort for those able to climb them! Despite the intermittant rain on and off during the day, there was a steady stream of people arriving on the beach to participate in the beach sculpture activities with the artists, as well as those people just wanting to view the finished artworks or looking for a photo opportunity. Art and nature conversations with the artists were enjoyed as people worked on their sculptures. Their creativity was enhanced through the festival with inspiration, ideas, using different elements of nature to create marine animal inspired sculptures. An environmental awareness about the beach and marine life was definitely achieved through the festival. There were also lots of discussions about the geology of the beach and participants gained an awareness of sea life through the activity.

A Ray was a wonderful sculpture for this family to create using carefully selected coloured and shaped stones laid on a raised sand form.

So pleased we stumbled across this festival. It's wonderful, creative and fun. Thank you.

Many visitors at Rhossili today were tourists and this was their first time on the beach, they were interested to read the species information posts at the festival and asked questions about the local marine life.

Seals are a regular sighting here so it was an inspiration and a joy to carve one from the soft golden sand at Rhossili beach for the festival.

It was great to see something creative going on on the beautiful beach - something interesting to encourage people to walk down the steps rather than just walking along the top of the cliffs!

A sea horse was crafted from natural materials found on the beach, highlighting

biodiversity, colour, textures and variety.

Participants were eager to become involved in the festival; they enjoyed making their sculpture and foraging along the coastline. They were impressed with their finished creation and took pictures for family memories. They wandered amongst the created beach sculptures expressing positive thoughts and wowing at the spectacle

Participants were engrossed in the activity of making and creating. They took the time to analyse their design to complete their beach art, speaking positive thoughts as they went along, with regards to the making process and the surrounding environments beauty. People shared their thoughts of well being gained from the activity whilst smoothing the sand and collecting seashore resources.

The Beach Sculpture Festival was educational and great fun for all ages

An aerial close up of the Sea Horse on the shores of Rhossili.

It was a great day out (despite the rain showers!) Something creative for all the family.

To see Day 5 of 2024 Festival at Bracelet Bay - click the link at the bottom of this page

I weld tudalen 5 o 2024 Gwyl Traeth Bracelet - cliciwch ar y ddolen ar waelod y dudalen hon

THANK YOU TO OUR KIND SPONSORS BELOW:

DIOLCH I'N EIN HYRWYDDION SY'N GWYBODAETH BOD:

A large scale sculpture of a sea horse was created on the beach from driftwood and raked sand with the intention of making an artwork that could be seen from the cliffs above. Several workshop participants joined in with the artists to help create it. Although initially the seahorse was designed to be six meters, it was made to eleven meters to make it more visable from the cliffs. Working with the time available, the tides and helping hands were all factors in creating this large scale beach sculpture.

The sculpture received a lot of positivity and interest in the different textures and variety of natural materials used to create it. It generated an excitement and buzz with visitors at the top of Rhossili who were encouraged to go down to the beach to view it for themselves and record it with their own photographs.

We enjoyed making this sea horse and loved the event!

It was great to be creating sculptures on Rhossili beach where the sand was perfect for sculpting and a huge open space available for drawing in the sand. It would be great to build on the day's achievements and come to this beach again in the future to help raise awareness of the special marine life present in this area.

At the end of the day, there was a good display of beautiful and interesting sculptures for others to see and enjoy. Everyone was very happy with the outcomes and the learning process which will continue for everyone this summer! The Artists packed away the flags and banners ready for the next day at Bracelet Bay.

People were also interested to find out about the five piece waymarking sculpture trail along the cliff path between Limeslade, Mumbles and Rhossili that our team of artists created and installed - see sculpture on the coast feature