[ SUNDAY TRAVEL ]
BILLY LEE PHOTOS
Inspired by a professional sand sculptor, Billy Lee, a former home builder, tried his hand at the beach art form and now makes a living under the sun.
Creating glorious art We put the finishing touches on our magnum opus at dusk -- a fortress of sand standing almost 2 feet high on the beach fronting our vacation cottage in Kaaawa. We had worked on it for hours, but, to be honest, it didn't quite look like the castles my two brothers, sister and I admired in our Brothers Grimm books.
from ordinary sand
Billy Lee's incredible sculptures
earn him international acclaimBy Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi
Special to the Star-BulletinInstead of being straight, the walls of our medieval structure sloped. Its "towers" were actually 6-inch mounds of sand.
We dug a moat with paper cups, made a drawbridge from the side panel of a cereal box and hoisted royal banners -- actually remnants of a grocery bag taped to chopsticks. It was not a perfect castle, but it was our castle, and we were very proud of it. As soon as we awoke the next morning, we dashed outside, thrilled to see our masterpiece intact, spared by the wind and waves.
More than 30 years have passed since we spent that carefree weekend in the country, but the memory of that sand castle still brings a smile to my face.
Billy Lee also knows about the joy and exhilaration of getting on your knees on sun-baked sand to create an image that's at once simple and spectacular. The beach is his canvas.
BILLY LEE PHOTOS
Billy Lee takes 10 to 20 days to create his elaborate sand sculptures, which then take just a few minutes to destroy before starting anew.
Lee said he's always been involved with art in one form or another, "ever since I was a little child playing with my mashed potatoes at the dinner table."
He was a commercial artist and photographer, designing and building custom homes in Hawaii and on the mainland before making a discovery on Maui that dramatically changed his life in 1986.
"Some friends told me they were going to a sand-sculpting contest in Kihei and wanted me to go," Lee recalls. "I'd never seen a sand sculpture before, but I said, 'Sure.'"
For three hours he stood, mesmerized, watching a young man from Oahu construct a pyramid city. "He was a sponsored professional and not in the contest," Lee explains, "and I saw how much fun he was having and how well he related to his crowd of admirers, myself included."
Inspired, Lee made some makeshift tools, and the next morning drove to a deserted beach to practice his newfound craft. "I had such a great time, I made it a ritual to start every day with sunrise on the beach, a thermos of coffee and sand sculpting for two hours."
It was the beginning of a 16-year fascination that has earned him international renown. Today, Lee builds incredible sculptures standing more than 20 feet high for shopping malls, trade shows, festivals, corporate groups and private functions worldwide through his Lahaina-based company, Sandimagination. His impressive client roster includes Xerox, Toyota, Shell Oil Co., Time-Warner, ESPN, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Nestle and American Express, but, he says, many of his most rewarding moments have come during the sand-sculpting lessons he conducts every Thursday on Kaanapali Beach.
Using a straw, a plastic cup, two buckets, a few Plexiglas tools and their hands, fledgling artists create three-dimensional tropical fish, step by painstaking step, under the watchful eye of the master. Each part of the fish has been designed to demonstrate a different carving and packing technique.
Where: Kaanapali Beach fronting Whalers Village, Kaanapali Resort, Maui Sand-sculpting lessons
Time: 10 a.m. to noon Thursdays. Meet at the mall's sandbox.
Cost: $15 per person
Call: 661-4567
Web site: www.whalersvillage.com/sandscl.htm
Says Lee, "I've had the opportunity to teach Japanese children who spoke no English, a group of deaf kids and a disabled boy who was in a wheelchair. I've had several elderly people take the class, too, some of whom could barely get up and down, but they had fun and always were surprised at how well they did."
On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, you'll find Lee in the 14-by-16-foot sandbox at Whalers Village, fashioning whimsical vignettes from 12 tons of sand and engaging in lively conversation with onlookers.
BILLY LEE PHOTOS
Sand sculptor Billy Lee enjoys teaching his craft to beach-goers Thursdays at Kaanapali Beach.
"The sculptures reflect my lighthearted thoughts about a wide variety of subjects," Lee says. "My favorite themes include fairy tales, underwater scenes and Christmas."
From a knight playing chess with a dragon to a scuba diver gliding by two beautiful mermaids, Lee's winsome characters are so alive, you'd swear you see a twinkle in their eyes.
It takes 10 to 20 days for Lee to complete a sandbox sculpture, depending on its size and complexity. Once it's finished, it's displayed for a week, then it's time to make way for something new. "It's never my favorite day when I have to destroy a project so I can create another," Lee admits, "but I take extensive photos of them, and then it's like saying goodbye to dear friends.
"Nothing in life is really permanent. Sand sculpture not only makes you aware of this, it makes you live for the present and enjoy every minute of it."
>> Carefully select your spot on the beach. Remember, it's easier to haul water an extra 10 feet than to try to prevent your creation from being knocked over by waves. Tips from the Sandman
>> Pack the sand in flat horizontal layers about 4 to 6 inches deep. Thoroughly saturate it with water, pack it and then water it again. Now the water will soak in rather than run off, and you've not only compacted the sand, you've settled it as well.
>> Carve from the top down and from the middle out.
>> Block out the general shape of your project before you start doing details. This will help keep things in scale and will prevent you from removing sand you may need.
>> Use brushes to smooth the sand. Blow away loose particles with a straw to give the sculpture a finished look.
>> Remember to drink lots of water and apply a liberal dose of sunscreen while you are on the beach.
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based free-lance writer and Society of American Travel Writers award winner.
